


Ten Things

by LostyK



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) Fusion, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, POV Third Person Omniscient, Panic Attacks, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23297974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostyK/pseuds/LostyK
Summary: When Roman Prince learns that Patton Foster isn’t allowed to date until his older brother, Virgil, is, Roman is crushed. Roman’s twin brother Remus, however, comes up with a plan: find someone who is willing to date Virgil.And who better to ask than Janus Verona, who according to rumours is willing to do anything for the right price?
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 316
Kudos: 492
Collections: TSS Fanworks Collective





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning on posting this until I was done with Remus's Guide, but here we are. I can't make promises as to how often this will update though.

If asked after the fact, Virgil would claim that the whole thing was Janus’s own fault for agreeing to the scheme in the first place. Janus and Patton, however, would both agree that it was _Roman’s_ fault, and Roman would blame everything on Remus for coming up with the idea. Logan would refuse to answer, if only because he thought everyone was to blame for getting caught up in the drama.

Regardless of who was at fault, however, it _started_ with Roman. Roman, who had moved to town with his brother a year ago. Roman, who had walked into Mr Sanders’ drama class that first day, spotted Patton across the room, and fallen hopelessly in love.

Roman, who, one Friday afternoon, was lurking around the corner from Patton’s locker, trying to look like he was doing anything but lurking.

“I’m going to do it,” Roman announced.

Remus, who was only there because he couldn’t be trusted behind a wheel, and so Roman was his ride home, rolled his eyes. “You said that last time.”

“This time I mean it,” Roman said, peering around the corner.

Patton was closing his locker, talking to Logan Doyle, who stood next to him.

“You meant it last time, too,” Remus said. “But you still chickened out.”

Roman made an outraged sound. “I did _not_ chicken out. I merely… chose to wait for a more opportune time.”

“Right,” Remus said.

“And this is it!” Roman continued. “The moment when I confess my love. The clouds will part, trumpets will sound from the heavens, small, fluffy animals will dance-“

“You’re going to chicken out again.”

“I am not going to- sshh, here he comes.”

Roman ducked back behind the corner, and Remus leaned around it. Sure enough, Patton and Logan were making their way towards them, deep in conversation. Remus glanced back at Roman, who was not looking nearly as confident now.

“You know, maybe today isn’t the best time,” he said. “I can just ask him tomorrow!”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Remus pointed out.

“Monday then! Monday’s a much better day to ask someone out, I’ve always thought.”

Remus rolled his eyes, and then, without warning, grabbed Roman by the arms, and pulled him to corner.

“This is for your own good,” he informed Roman.

“Remus, wait, what are you-“

Roman struggled against Remus’s grip, but it was no good. With a glance to make sure his timing was right, Remus pushed Roman away from him, right into the path of Patton.

Roman froze like a deer in the headlights.

“Oh, hi Roman,” Patton said cheerfully, as if Roman being thrown into corridors was a perfectly normal occurrence. “What’s up?”

“Um,” Roman answered.

Patton tilted his head. Beside him, Logan was beginning to look exasperated. Roman glanced back at Remus, who grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

“Go out,” Roman blurted. “On a date. With me. Together. Please?”

Patton frowned as he tried to make sense of Roman’s jumble of words. “Are… you asking me out on a date?”

“Yes?” Roman said. “I mean no, I mean,” Roman took a breath. “Yes, I am. Patton Hart, will you go on a date with me?”

He placed one hand behind his back, extended the other towards Patton formally. Patton giggled, and then his expression turned sad.

“Roman, I’d love to, it’s just-“

“Say no more,” Roman said, trying for a smile. “If you do not wish to date me, I will just… go and do something else. Right now.”

He turned to walk back to Remus, but Patton grabbed his arm to stop him.

“No! I _do_ want to go on a date with you, I just don’t know if I can,” Patton said.

“Whatever could you mean?” Roman asked.

“It’s – my dad. He says I’m too young to date. I don’t think he’d let me.”

“Ah,” Roman said. “I suppose… not telling him would be out of the question?”

Patton sighed. “I can’t lie to him. If he found out…” he trailed off, and then brightened, his face becoming set with determination. “I can’t lie to him. But I could ask him. I _will_ ask him.”

Roman smiled. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Here, give me your number. I’ll text you when I find out what he says.”

Roman quickly entered his number into Patton’s phone. Patton smiled as he took it back.

“I should go. My brother’s waiting,” he hesitated, and then added, “I really do want to go out with you, Roman.”

“Yeah,” Roman said. “Me too. Obviously.”

Patton smiled one last time, and then turned and disappeared out the doors, Logan following behind.

Roman went back to his brother, feeling like he was walking on air. Remus, who was allergic to his brother feeling any kind of happiness, scowled. “He didn’t say yes.”

“He didn’t say no,” Roman responded, smiling dreamily. “I just have to charm his dad. I can do that. Dads love me.”

Remus rolled his eyes and jostled Roman, which quickly devolved into a wrestling match.

Outside the school, Patton Foster said goodbye to Logan, who walked home, and went to the parking lot, where his brother was waiting.

Virgil was leaning against his shitty, second hand car in all his emo glory. Patton practically skipped over to him.

The Foster brothers made an unusual pair. They did not _look_ like brothers; Virgil was skinny whereas Patton was fat; his hair (now dyed purple) was dark brown whereas Patton’s was dirty blond; he was pale whereas Patton was tanned.

At school, Patton was loved by students and teachers alike, whereas Virgil was tolerated at best, and dreaded at worse. Whilst Patton gave out cookies to his teachers, Virgil collected detentions the way some people collected stamps.

At first glance, many people assumed that Virgil and Patton would be so different they’d want nothing to do with each other. Those people were quickly proven wrong.

A fair portion of Virgil’s detentions came from punching people who made fun of Patton’s bottomless kindness. And the teachers who were the worse to Virgil would find that Patton always seemed to run out of cookies before getting to their classroom, not matter how early in the day they taught him.

So when Virgil saw how excited Patton was, his scowl lifted.

“What’s got you so happy?” he asked, as they both fastened their seatbelts.

Patton’s smile grew even wider. “Don’t tell dad,” he said.

Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“I mean,” Patton amended, “Don’t tell dad until I do. And maybe don’t do anything to put him in a bad mood.” Patton frowned. “Did you get detention today? Dad hates it when you get detention.”

“I didn’t get detention,” Virgil promised. “Why? What are you trying to get out of him?”

Patton took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said. “Roman Prince asked me out.”

Virgil could only blink. “Oh,” he said. Then he frowned. “Who’s Roman Prince?”

“He was in Mr Sanders’ class with me last year,” Patton said. “He’s really sweet and funny. And he always laughed at my jokes, no matter how bad they were, but I always thought he was just being nice, you know? But then today he asked me out.”

Virgil took in Patton’s excitement. “So what does he look like?”

Patton opened his mouth to say something, before stopping, and frowning. “Virgil!” he scolded. “You are _not_ allowed to scare him off.”

“I wasn’t going to scare him off! I was just going to, you know, make sure he’s alright.”

Patton rolled his eyes.

“I’m happy for you, you know,” Virgil said after a moment’s silence.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But what are you going to say to dad?”

Patton sighed. “That’s why I don’t want you to upset him. I’m going to tell him about Roman, and ask if we can go out.”

“He’s going to say no.”

“He might say yes!”

Virgil shook his head. “Patton, I’m pretty sure dad still sees you as that seven year old he first adopted.”

Patton frowned. “Then he should see you as the _ten_ year old he adopted. You’re allowed to date.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “ _I_ lower all his expectations of me. You should try it. Besides, I’m only allowed to date because he knows it’s never going to happen. Lets him have the illusion of control.”

Patton looked sad, the way he always did when Virgil started talking bad about himself. Virgil knew it was time to change the subject – fast.

“Hey, tell me more about Roman,” Virgil said.

Patton instantly looked smitten again, and quickly began babbling about how handsome and kind Roman was. Virgil kept his gaze fixed on the road and tried to hide his smile.

Patton picked at his dinner and cast nervous glances at his father. He _seemed_ to be in an okay mood tonight – he had walked through the door loudly complaining about some of the clients at his tattoo parlour, which was a good sign. If there was one thing Remy Foster loved to do, it was complain.

Now, Remy kept casting glances back at Patton, and Virgil kept looking between the two of them. After a few moments of awkward silence, Remy cleared his throat.

“Something wrong with your food, Pat?”

Patton shook his head. “It’s great.”

Virgil nudged Patton under the table.

Patton swallowed down his nerves and looked at Remy, fixing a smile on to his face, “I, uh, I wanted to ask you something, dad.”

Remy raised an eyebrow in a silent gesture for Patton to continue.

“So, there’s this boy at my school. Roman. He’s really kind and sweet and- And, uh, he asked me out today, so I was wondering if I could-“

“No,” Remy answered before Patton could finish speaking.

Patton groaned. “ _Dad_.”

“No dating until you’re eighteen. You know the rules.”

“But Roman’s really nice,” Patton protested. “And I promise we’ll be sensible. And _you_ dated lots in high school.”

Remy shook his head. “This isn’t a democracy, Pat. I set the rules, you follow them. _Virgil_ doesn’t care about dating.”

Virgil pulled a face at being brought into the conversation. “Yeah, that’s because all the guys at school suck. I wouldn’t date them if you paid me.”

“You see, listen to your brother.”

Patton shot a pleading glance at Virgil, who sighed.

“Uh, I’m sure Roman’s okay though. I guess.”

Remy narrowed his eyes. “Have you met Roman?”

Virgil shook his head and looked down at his plate.

Remy rubbed his eyes with one hand. “Okay, how about this: new rule. Patton can date when Virgil does.”

Patton and Virgil gaped at him.

_“What?”_ the both said together.

Remy shrugged. “Virgil, I trust your instincts. So if there’s a boy at school you’re willing to date, maybe there’s one good enough for Patton.”

“That is… _way_ too much pressure,” Virgil muttered.

“That’s not fair,” Patton protested. “At this rate I’ll _never_ be able to date.”

Remy grinned. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”

Suddenly, there was a scraping sound as Virgil pushed away from the table. “I’m not hungry,” he muttered, before rushing out the room.

Remy and Patton looked at each other. Remy sighed.

“Look,” he said. “I know it’s tough. But I also know from experience what boys in high school are like. One day, you’ll understand.”

Patton shook his head. “How will I?” Patton asked coldly, “If you don’t give me a chance to find out for myself.”

And with that, Patton grabbed his and Virgil’s plates, and left the room. He hurriedly dumped the remaining food in the bin and put the plates in the dishwasher, before dashing upstairs. Outside of Virgil’s door, Patton hesitated.

“Virgil?” he called, knocking lightly. “Are you mad at me?”

There was a pause, and then the door opened to reveal Virgil.

“I’m not mad at you,” he said. “Mad at dad, maybe.”

Patton chewed his lip. “I think I’m mad at Dad, too.”

Virgil sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “If I could, I’d go on a few dates so you could. But no one’s exactly lining up to date me.”

Patton threw his arms around Virgil. He hated when Virgil talked about himself like that, hated how _easily_ he thought the worst of himself. It made Patton angry, a strange, hot feeling that brewed in his stomach and reached up to his chest. Made him want to yell at every person who treated Virgil badly – his bio parents, their Papa, all the teachers and bullies at school – to ask them why they would make someone as wonderful as Virgil think he was unlovable.

“That’s not true,” Patton said fiercely.

“Patton-“ Virgil said, his voice cracking.

Patton pulled back so he could look Virgil in the eye. “If people don’t want to date you then they’re idiots, okay? You’re the best person I know. So don’t go talking bad about my favourite brother, mister.”

Virgil laughed a little wetly. “I’m your only brother.”

“And even if I had a hundred brothers, you’d still be my favourite. Okay?”

Virgil nodded. He was smiling slightly now. “Yeah, I get it Pat. Thanks.”

Patton smiled back. “Someday, you’re going to find someone who sees how amazing you are. And they’re going to love you for it.”

Virgil ducked his head, blushing. “Still. I’m sorry about Roman.”

Patton looked away, sighing sadly. “It’s okay. It probably wouldn’t have worked out anyway. He’s so – cool, and good looking, and I’m just-“ he gestured at his himself, “Me, you know?”

Virgil frowned. “Now _you_ need to stop talking bad about _my_ favourite brother.”

Patton chuckled. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Virgil placed one arm on his shoulder. “Parks and rec marathon?”

Patton beamed.

_Patton (7:41pm): This is Patton. I can’t date you. Sorry._

_Roman (7:42pm): Your dad said no?_

_Patton (7:42pm): Pretty much._

_Roman (7:42pm): ?_

_Roman (7:42pm): Pretty much isn’t the same as no. What did he say?_

_Patton (7:43pm): He said I’m not allowed to date until my older brother does._

_Patton (7:43pm): Which is pretty much the same as saying no_

_Roman (7:43pm): I see. I’m sorry to hear that._

_Patton (7:45pm): Me too. I know it’s not what you wanted but maybe we could still be friends?_

_Patton (7:45pm): Only if you want to. It’s cool if not._

_Roman (7:45pm): Patton, I would be honoured to be your friend_

And that could have been the end of it. Roman and Patton would stay as friends, and maybe, eventually, they would be able to date. Or maybe, by that time, both would have moved on and been interested in different people. They would stay in touch, through the years, and they would each get married, and only occasionally wonder what life would have been like if they had dated all those years ago in high school.

But Remus was sitting next to Roman. Remus leaned over Roman’s shoulder to see what Patton had said, and Roman rolled his eyes and let him, because he had learned long ago that it was pointless to say no to his brother.

“Well,” Remus said once he’d read through the conversation. “Why not just find someone to date his brother?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Test


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been awhile, so have an extra long chapter to make up for it! I want to switch to updating every Saturday now this is my main project.
> 
> I've switched to using Janus instead of Dee, so I edited the first chapter and summary to reflect that. There's no other differences to the first chapter. Also *pokes tags* there's intrulogical in this now.

Roman cleared his throat and looked over the ragtag group of students he’d gathered before him.

Luc Edwards, Scott Brown, Tyler Ellis, Pete Campbell and Alex Swift. Three of Virgil’s friends, and two boys Roman knew sat next to Virgil in class. He and Remus had spent all of Monday spying, making notes of who Virgil spoke to, who he sat by, who he ate lunch with. After much debating, and a fair dose of stalking on social media, the two had come up with a shortlist.

That morning, he and Remus had both ended up late to their first class because they’d been delivering notes to each of the five, telling them to meet in one of the maths classrooms that Roman knew would be empty at this time.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I brought you here today,” Roman began.

“Who are you?” Alex Swift, a gangly boy with greasy hair and acne covering his face asked.

“That not important,” Roman dismissed. “What _is_ important is that one of you is going to take Virgil Foster out on a date.”

“Who?” asked Tyler Ellis, who Roman _knew_ ate lunch with Virgil every day.

“That weird emo kid,” Scott Brown answered.

“ _Why_ do you want one us to date Virgil?” Alex asked.

“As a part of a scheme to allow me to date his brother,” Roman replied. “But that’s not important.”

“Question,” said Luc Edwards, who, unlike the others, was perched on a table. “What’s in it for us?”

“Uh, the joy of Virgil’s company?”

Luc snorted. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same guy?”

Okay, Roman was beginning to hate everyone in the room. Weren’t they supposed to be Virgil’s friends?

“Quite sure,” he said through gritted teeth.

Luc shook his head. “He’s a freak. He never even speaks.”

“I heard him speak once,” Pete said timidly. “He asked how often the school tested the fire alarms.”

“Probably planning on burning the place down,” Scott muttered.

Roman stared at him. He knew that outsiders judged his friendships for the friendly insults he handed out like candy, but even he had limits, and talking about someone like that behind their back broke all of them. He was beginning to get the urge to defend Virgil’s honour.

“Do any of you actually like him?” Roman asked.

“He doesn’t speak,” Luc repeated. “We let him hang around with us because he doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Honestly, it’s kinda pathetic.”

Roman looked from person to person. None of them met their eyes.

Luc sighed. “Look, good luck with your search, but honestly? Don’t get your hope up.”

With that, Luc jumped down from the table and left the room. Roman looked at the four remaining boys, but his hope was dying. Luc had seemed to be the unofficial leader of Virgil’s group, commanding their attention. He’d been Roman’s favourite, though Remus had disagreed.

The other boys exchanged glances. For a moment, no one spoke.

“Sorry,” Pete said at last, “But he’s not my type.”

“He’s a loser.”

“Forget it.”

“I still don’t know who that is.”

One boy one, the boys left the classroom, until Roman was alone. He groaned, and thudded his head against the wall. So much for that idea. So much for Virgil’s shitty friends.

He sighed, and then went to find Remus.

“Maybe it’s for the best,” Logan said.

The two of them were sat at their favourite table in the library, hidden away among the stacks. In front of them was their homework, which Patton was currently face down on, bemoaning his current romantic status.

It had been the fifth time they’d had that conversation since Friday. Logan had kept track.

“Maybe,” Patton mumbled into the desk, which was an improvement on the last four conversations, when he hadn’t been willing to listen.

“It will give you more time to study,” Logan pointed out.

Patton lifted his head and pulled a face. “Okay, I get it.” He sat up fully and sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I hate French.”

“Just be glad you didn’t take Spanish,” Logan said, drily.

Mischief suddenly danced in Patton’s eyes. “Oh? Why’s that, Lo?”

“Because-“ Logan stopped himself. “No. You are _not_ going to distract me like that.”

“Like what?” asked a new voice, and Remus Prince slid into the third seat at the table.

Patton and Logan exchanged glances, and then looked back at Remus, who looked as if sitting with them was the most normal thing in the world, even though they’d never had a conversation together.

They knew who Remus was, of course, even outside of Patton’s crush on his brother. E _veryone_ knew who Remus was. It had taken him less than a year at Padua High to reach a level of infamy most students could only aspire to. Patton still shuddered every time he saw a duck.

Remus looked between them. “Are you guys having a stroke?”

“No,” Logan said. “We’re merely… surprised you chose to sit with us.”

Remus shrugged. “Gotta keep an eye on who my brother’s dating,” he said, and grinned at Patton like a shark.

Patton swallowed. “Roman and I aren’t dating.”

“Right,” Remus said, and then muttered something that sounded like _‘yet’_. “So,” he added cheerfully. “What are we talking about?”

“Spanish,” Patton said sweetly.

Logan glared at him. “No, we’re-.”

“Ugh,” Remus threw his head back. “Spanish is the _worst_. Mrs Richards has _no idea_ what she’s talking about.”

“Yes,” Logan agreed. “And her pronunciation-,”

“It’s awful!” Remus finished. “Like, has she ever seen a native speaker?”

Logan nodded, and then narrowed his eyes. “How would you know? Don’t you sleep through most Spanish classes?”

“Yeah, but it creeps into my dreams and gives me nightmares.”

“No, I mean- how do you how bad she is if you don’t pay attention to what she’s teaching.”

Remus looked at him like he was stupid. It was not a look Logan got very often. “I… speak Spanish?”

“You do?” Logan asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Remus said. “I grew up speaking it. You guys didn’t know that?”

“We don’t exactly know you,” Patton pointed out. “And you _are_ taking it as a class.”

“Yeah, because it’s an easy A.”

“Of course,” Logan muttered.

Patton gasped and clapped his hands together, making the other two jump. He glanced around guiltily at the noise, but there was no one nearby to get annoyed.

“Remus, you speak Spanish!” Patton exclaimed.

“That’s… what we were just talking about?” Remus said.

Patton turned to Logan. “Remus can tutor you!”

“What?” Logan and Remus asked at the same time.

“Well, you’re always talking about how you wish you had someone to practise with! Here’s your chance.”

Logan and Remus looked at each other uncertainly.

“I don’t think Remus wants to do that,” Logan said.

“You don’t know what I want,” Remus protested.

Logan narrowed his eyes. Remus gave his biggest shit-eating grin.

“I wouldn’t want to presume-,”

“It’s not presuming if you just _ask me_.”

“I don’t have the money for a tutor.”

“I’ll do it out of the goodness of my heart!”

Logan and Remus stared at each other. Remus’s smile took on a slightly sinister nature.

“ _Unless_ ,” Remus said, “There’s some reason you don’t _want_ me to tutor you.”

It was a challenge and a game all wrapped into one. Remus was watching Logan carefully, waiting to see what he’d do, if he’d admit to not liking Remus or come up with an excuse.

Logan had never backed down from a challenge. Not when he was eleven, and his teacher had given him advanced work and not bothered to explain it because ‘ _other people need my time more_ ’, which Logan had taken home and researched until he understood. Not when he was fourteen, and his teacher had asked if he’d like to teach the class instead, and Logan had snapped back _‘I’d probably do a better job than you’_. Not when he was fifteen and the history teacher had dismissed his comments with _‘you don’t know more than the textbook’_ , so Logan had compiled a ten page list of sources that showed the textbook was wrong.

He certainly wasn’t going to back down when Remus Prince was staring at him with those infuriating brown eyes.

So he changed the game.

“In that case,” Logan said, forcing his face into a smile, “I accept your offer.”

Remus gaped at Logan, and Logan raised an eyebrow.

“Unless there’s some reason you don’t want to tutor me?”

Remus burst into laughter. “Oh, this is going to be _fun_.”

Patton, whose eyes had darted back and forth between them like a spectator at a tennis match, now smiled as if everything was fine. Remus suspected that Patton hadn’t understood what was happening. Logan knew better.

“What the hell are you doing in the _library_?” someone called, and the trio turned around.

Roman stood there with his arms crossed, looking exasperated at Remus. It was a common look on Roman’s face.

Remus raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, am I not allowed to be a good student?”

“Not when it means I have to search the _entire_ school looking for you!”

Patton cleared his throat. “Is… everything okay?”

Roman jerked when he noticed Patton sitting there. “Ah, Patton! Yes, everything’s fine, I just need to borrow my brother here.”

“Smooth,” Remus commented.

Roman’s only response was to grab Remus by the arm and pull him out of the chair.

“Ow! Hey! Okay, okay, I’m going. See you later, Nerdy Wolverine!”

The librarian glared at Roman dragged Remus past her desk. Roman gave an apologetic look. Remus grinned and blew a kiss.

“You’re not very subtle,” Remus pointed out when they were standing in the corridor outside.

“Shut up,” Roman snapped.

“Ooh, grumpy! So how did the meeting go?”

Remus began walking through the halls and Roman did too.

“How do you think?”

“I think Operation: Get Virgil Foster Laid has hit a wall.”

Roman rubbed a hand over his face. “We are not calling it that.”

“But fear not!” Remus continued. “I have a solution.”

Roman narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What solution?”

“I’m so glad you asked! See, there was one big flaw with your plan-,”

“It was _your_ plan!”

“-And that’s that you lacked incentive! No one’s going to do things for the goodness of their hearts!”

“So what do you suggest?” Roman asked.

“Use money! What else are you going to do with it- use it to pay for dates?”

“Okay,” Roman said. “Let me get this straight-,”

“Hah!”

“-You want me to _pay_ someone to date Virgil Foster.”

“Not just _anyone_! It’s all about finding the right person.”

They had reached the cafeteria now. Remus pulled open the door with a flourish.

“Fortunately, I know exactly who that person is.”

Roman followed Remus’s gesture to a table near the back of the cafeteria, where a boy was sat wearing a black leather jacket over a yellow shirt. A hat hid most of his face, but Roman could just about make out a large burn scar from underneath his left eye to his jaw.

He sat alone, attention on the book in front of him. The crowd at the tables near him seemed electrified. Everyone was aware of his presence, but no one dared look over.

Roman shook his head. “Isn’t that Janus Verona?”

When Roman and Remus had first joined the story, Janus had become an urban legend in his absence. The boy with the strange name and scar on his face, which should have made him the perfect target for bullies, but instead he became something else. Everyone had a friend who’s sibling or cousin had messed with him, or who he just hadn’t liked, and had their lives ruined for it.

If you wanted dirt on someone, he probably already had it. If you wanted a fake ID, or alcohol, or tickets to a sold out concert, he could get it for you. He’d do anything you asked, if you had the money.

He hadn’t shown up what should have been his senior year because he was in prison for murder. Because he’d quit school and joined the mob. He _was_ in prison, but it was extortion, not murder. The murder part was true, but he’d fled the country because of it.

Roman had wondered whether he’d even existed in the first place.

And then Janus had come back, and started his senior year one year late.

Janus had become ten times more powerful through not being there, and the school had its resident bogeyman back. Roman had seen him a handful of times in the halls, and had always kept his head down and stayed away.

Whatever the rumour were, Janus Verona was clearly trouble.

“It’s perfect,” Remus said, cutting off Roman’s thoughts. “We pay him, he takes Virgil out, you and Patton get to be together and I don’t have to listen to your whining.”

“It’s _Janus Verona_ ,” Roman hissed, because clearly Remus was not getting how insane that was.

“I know,” Remus said, starry eyed. “Isn’t he great?”

Roman did manage to resist the urge to scream, but it was a near thing.

“Look,” Remus said. “We tried it your way. It went down like the Hindenburg.”

“That doesn’t mean we should resort to _hiring a criminal_!”

“Got any better ideas? I’m all ears.”

Roman opened his mouth, then shut it again. He glared at Remus.

“Great!” Remus said, and dragged Roman over to Janus’s table.

Janus did not look up from his book as the two of them approached. They stood at in front of the table. Janus still didn’t look up. Roman glanced at Remus, who shrugged. He cleared his throat.

“Roman and Remus Prince,” Janus said, his eyes still on the book. “Why ever would two model citizens like you come to someone like me?”

Remus took this as an invitation to pull out a chair and throw himself into it. “I just want to say, I’m a big fan of your work.”

That was enough to get Janus to look up from his book. He had the same confused and mildly horrified look most people got upon meeting Remus. “…Thank you?”

Roman sat down. “Ignore my brother, he’s morally deficient.” Remus kicked him under the table. “We want to hire you.”

Janus hummed. “I charge extra if you want it to look like an accident.”

“What?” Roman exclaimed. “No! We don’t- are you offering to kill someone!?”

Janus met his eyes and raised an eyebrow for a moment, the most terrifying one of Roman’s life. Then he threw his head back with loud, cackling peals of laughter. Remus beamed.

“Oh,” Roman said, laughing nervously. “You were joking. You- you are joking, right?”

“Certainly,” Janus said. “You wouldn’t be able to afford my fee.”

“This is the greatest day of my life,” Remus whispered.

“So.” Janus leaned back in his chair, “What can I do for you? Don’t bother getting all embarrassed, I promise, I’ve heard it all before.”

Roman glanced at Remus, who nodded. “We’d like to hire you to date Virgil Foster,” he said.

“Okay,” Janus said after a moment’s silence. “I _haven’t_ heard it all before. You do realise I’m not an escort, don’t you?”

“I don’t want you to _have sex with him_ ,” Roman cried, then ducked his head, blushing, when he realised _everyone had probably heard that_. “I just- look, I want to date Patton Foster, okay?”

“Whatever you’re about to tell me, I assure you I don’t care,” Janus drawled.

“So I asked Patton out, and he was like, ‘I’ll have to ask my dad’, but then his dad was like ‘not unless Virgil dates’, which apparently is _impossible_. So Remus and I came up with an idea-,”

“I came up with it,” Remus interrupted.

“So Remus came up with, and I improved upon, an idea: we find someone to date Virgil.”

“And how did that go?” Janus asked, looking mildly interested despite himself.

“Terrible,” Remus chimed in. “So we figured we’d ask you.”

Janus tilted his head, considering. “Alright,” he said at last.

“Seriously?”

Janus smiled, and spread his gloved hands wide. “Who am I to get in the way of true love?”

“Well, great.” Roman was suddenly transported to a reality where Remus’s plans _worked_. It was not a pleasant experience. “Uh, so how’s ten dollars sound?”

Janus gasped, and placed a hand on his heart. “Roman. Are you suggested that I take a fine young man like Virgil on a date that’s worth _ten dollars_?”

Roman gritted his teeth. “Well, what do you want?”

“Well, let’s see,” Janus mused. “Say we go to the cinema. The tickets cost, what, fifteen dollars? And then, of course, I’ll be buying him popcorn. And then there’s the price of gas…”

“How much?”

Janus smiled. “Let’s say $75.”

Roman balked. “No way.”

Janus shrugged. “All right then. Plenty of fish in the sea, after all.”

He turned his attention back to his book, though Roman got the sense he was still watching them.

“ _Roman_ ,” Remus hissed.

Roman glared. “I can’t afford seventy five dollars a date.”

“It only needs to be a couple of times,” Remus pointed out.

Roman groaned. “Fine,” he spat, and Janus looked up from his book and smiled. “But I don’t pay you until _after_ the date.”

“Half up front, half after,” Janus said. “Otherwise there’s no deal.”

Roman considered. He didn’t seem to have much of a choice. “I’ll pay the first half once Virgil agrees to it.”

Janus nodded. “Deal.” He reached out a hand, and Roman shook it. “A pleasure doing business with you, Mr Prince. Now, if you excuse me, it appears I have a boy to seduce.”

Janus pushed away from the table, picked up his book – Kant, something he’d read before but which gave him the opportunity to watch the cafeteria without anyone noticing - and swept out of the room.

People scurried out of his way as he walked through the hallways, but their whispers and dirty looks trailed after him. He was not well liked in this school, and he knew it – had known for a long time that he would never be liked, and so he had become something else.

Janus Verona did not need to be liked to be powerful.

He arrived at his destination- a corridor that contained only a set of toilets, a supply closet, and a side door that led to a set of steps down to the parking lot, hidden behind rows of cars. For years, it had made the best spot for smoking without getting caught.

Virgil Foster did not smoke, but he did hang around with people who did.

Janus leaned against the wall of the corridor and opened his book again, pretending to read but really watching Virgil through the window in the door. He was sat on the top step with his head phones on, but he was watching the other boys, even though presumably he couldn’t hear the conversation. At the bottom of the steps Luc Edwards stood, waving his eyes as he spoke. The other boys alternated between listening to him and paying him no attention.

The group was a scattering of losers and outcasts, the kind that banded together not through any shared friendship, or even through liking each other. They were there because there was safety in numbers and nowhere else to go.

In another life, Janus might have been one of them, keeping his head turned away so no one saw his scar.

In this life, the bell rang, and the group outside got up, and started heading to class. Most of them barely glanced at Janus as they passed, safe in being too low in the hierarchy to be bothered. Luc Edwards shoulder checked him as he walked past. 

Janus narrowed his eyes at Luc, but before he could do anything, Virgil came inside, his head down, hood pulled up. Janus pushed off the wall, and fell into step with him. Virgil glanced over at the movement in the corner of his eye, then did a double take when he realised who was next to him.

“What?” Virgil asked gruffly, pushing one headphone away from his ear.

“Janus Verona,” he introduced, holding out one hand. Virgil looked at it suspiciously, but didn’t say anything.

“We have English together,” Janus explained. “Why not walk together?”

Virgil shook his head. “Why are you talking to me?”

“Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?” Janus asked.

“I can think of a few,” Virgil snapped, and sped up.

Truly, it was shocking that Roman and Remus had been so unsuccessful.

Virgil was already in his seat by the time Janus entered the classroom. He didn’t look up as Janus sat down, didn’t even glance in his direction, which meant he was putting in the effort to seem as uninviting as possible.

The teacher- Mr Williams- began his lesson as the last stragglers had taken their seats, introducing the Shakespeare module they were about to begin and handing out copies of _The Taming of The Shrew_. Janus payed attention only enough to know what was happening. Nothing interesting would be in this lesson, and he wanted a chance to review what he already knew about Virgil.

He’d never had much to do with Virgil, before. Virgil had been in the year below, and even if their paths had crossed, Janus had never had much reason to pay attention to the emo boy at the back of the class.

He knew that Virgil had a younger brother, Patton, and that their parents were divorced. He knew that, if Luc Edwards was anything to go by, he had terrible taste in friends.

He was also, Janus noticed when he snuck glances at Virgil, not bad looking.

“Before we get started,” Mr Williams said, “Why doesn’t everyone share their thoughts on Shakespeare’s works?”

Janus rolled his eyes at the pointless attempt to make the lesson interactive.

Mr Williams made a show of scanning the class. “Virgil Foster,” he said, announcing both names as if there was another Virgil in the school, let alone the class. “What are your thoughts?”

And that was one other thing Janus knew about Virgil: Mr Williams hated him.

Janus didn’t know whether Mr Williams had convinced himself that he was helping to bring a shy boy out of his shell, or if he admitted that he just wanted to torment someone and went for the weakest option. Janus hoped it was the latter, because it would take a lot of denial to believe that calling on him every lesson was a good thing. Either Virgil would stammer out an answer, face pale and voice shaky, or he would say nothing, and Mr Williams would tell him to pay more attention and threaten him with detention.

It made Janus’s fists clench, that a man would go through such efforts to feel like he had power over someone he _already had power over_.

Still, it gave Janus a chance to look at Virgil, shoulders hunched and head down.

“He’s fine,” Virgil muttered.

“Fine?” Mr Williams echoed. “William Shakespeare, the greatest poet in the English language, is _fine_.” A smattering of giggles, not because Mr Williams was right, but because there was someone for the class to laugh at. Virgil’s shoulders tightened. “I’m sure you can come up with something better than that.”

Virgil said nothing.

Mr Williams sighed dramatically. “We don’t have all day,” he said. “Really, you must have _some_ original thoughts in that head.”

Virgil lifted his head, glaring fire at the teacher. “I think people should stop putting him on a pedestal,” he said. His voice was shaking but the foundation was steel. “I think there are a lot of aspects of his works that people don’t talk about.”

“Care to give an example?” Mr Williams asked.

Virgil tapped the book in front of him. “Guy abuses his wife for the whole play and he’s supposed to be the hero?”

Mr Williams hummed. “Thank you for your feedback, Virgil. I’m sure Shakespeare would be devastated to know you don’t approve of the play he wrote in the sixteenth century.”

Laughter from the class. Virgil flushed and ducked his head, shoulders tense, fists clenched.

It was obvious Virgil hated Mr Williams, but he had never done anything about it before. Somehow, the boy in the back of the class had managed to surprise Janus Verona.

Virgil stayed with his head down until the bell rang, when he was the first to dash out of the classroom, stuffing his books back into his bag as he went. Janus didn’t bother trying to catch up.

He sent a text to Roman as he walked through the halls, asking for more information on Virgil. The first response came back almost instantly, asking how Janus had his number. He ignored it, and pulled up Google while he waited for Roman to get back with something useful. Excitement rushed through him as he typed, the kind that always came in these early stages of a plan.

Virgil was more than he seemed, which meant that this was going to be interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for being a day late. Hope you enjoy!

Virgil wanted nothing more than to go straight home, curl up on his bed, and blast MCR through his headphones until he couldn’t think. But he’d already agreed to take Patton to _Right Round_ , his favourite record store, that afternoon, so he forced himself to turn left into town as opposed to right to their house when he left the school parking lot.

As soon as they got inside, Patton made a beeline to the vinyl records. Virgil let himself wander; he didn’t mind being there, even as keyed up as he was. The store was quiet and airy, and the music that played through the speakers was soothing. He headed to the guitars- not that he could afford any of them, but he still liked to look.

There, in the middle, as always, was _his_ guitar. The one that he was saving up for. Remy had said that he could work in his shop other the summer to save up for it. Then he could take the guitar and go to college, could leave High School behind him, and not have to think about people like Mr Williams or Janus Verona again.

“Do you play?”

Virgil startled, and turned around. Speak of the devil; Janus was leaning against a shelf displaying sheet music. Virgil crossed his arms.

“What are you doing here?” he snapped. Had Janus followed him here? After his humiliation in English, and then being late to his next class because he’d been busy having a panic in the bathroom, Virgil really wasn’t in the mood for further mocking.

Janus raised an eyebrow. “In a store? Where they sell things? Gosh, Virgil, I don’t know, what _could_ I be doing here?”

“Whatever.” Virgil scowled. He looked over at Patton, who was looking between two records, oblivious to what was going on. If he went over there, would Janus just follow him?

“I enjoyed your speech in English,” Janus said.

Okay, screw it. Virgil wasn’t going to stick around for this. “Glad I could entertain you,” he hissed, and began to walk away.

“It impressed me, actually.”

Virgil stopped, and gave Janus an incredulous look. Janus didn’t look amused, didn’t look anything but sincere, for that matter. Then again, according to Luc, Janus could look perfectly sincere while planning on stabbing you in the back.

“Mr Williams is a dick,” Janus continued. “But I liked your points.”

“Really,” Virgil said flatly.

“No, actually I’m being completely insincere,” Janus said drily. “Questioning the values an authority figure is trying to push on us isn’t something I’d enjoy at _all_.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a dick?”

“Not to my face,” Janus replied, mimicking inspecting his nails even though he was wearing gloves.

Virgil shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to… question authority or anything. That wasn’t my point.”

“Wasn’t it?” Janus asked.

Okay, maybe he had been. Not consciously, but… he’d been sick of Mr Williams’ scorn, of treating Virgil like he was stupid. So he’d shown Mr Williams that he _could_ think for himself. But admitting that seemed too much like admitting common ground with him.

“I don’t hate Shakespeare,” Virgil said instead. “I just think that there are aspects of his plays that we don’t get to talk about.”

“Really.” Janus looked interested. “And what are the dark sides to the rest of the bards work?”

The smart thing to do would be to turn around and walk away, not give Janus any more ammunition for whatever scheme he was working on. But Virgil didn’t want to leave. He wanted to meet Janus’ challenge.

“Try me,” he answered.

Janus smiled. “Okay, let’s see. Romeo and Juliet is too easy: teen suicide.”

“Actually it’s that you should wait five minutes before making any major decisions. Or to not get married at thirteen.”

“Hamlet?”

“Check who you’re stabbing before you stab them.”

“Twelfth night?”

“There’s never a bad time to dress in drag.”

Janus laughed. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then stopped, his attention caught on someone just behind at to the right of Virgil. Virgil turned to see what he was looking at just as Patton came up next to him.

“Hi Virgil,” Patton said. His tone was sweet, but his gaze was fixed firmly on Janus and his eyes were narrowed. “You’ve never introduced me to your friend.”

“We’re not _friends_ ,” Virgil replied. “We just have English together.”

Patton hummed and reached out a hand. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Patton.”

“Janus Verona,” Janus responded, shaking the hand.

“Oh,” Patton said, still smiling. “I know who you are.”

Virgil glanced between the two of them. Patton might be smiling, but his eyes were like flint. Janus just seemed amused.

“Uh, you get what you wanted, Pat?” Virgil asked.

“Yep!” Patton held up a paper bag, finally looking at Virgil. “Ready to go?”

“Sure.” Virgil glanced back at Janus. “See you in school.”

Janus nodded. If he wanted to say anything else, he didn’t get the chance before Patton grabbed Virgil by the arm and tugged him towards the exit. He didn’t release Virgil’s arm until they were at the car.

“What was that?” Virgil asked as soon as they were in their seats. “You usually like meeting new people.”

“Usually those people aren’t _Janus Verona_ ,” Patton shot back. “What did he want?”

“Beats me. We just talked about English.”

Patton still looked uncertain. “You’d tell me if something was wrong, right? Like, if he was bothering you?”

“He wasn’t bothering me,” Virgil said, because he didn’t make promises he wasn’t going to keep and the last thing he wanted was to drag Patton into his mess. “He’s just- weird, I guess.”

“Right,” Patton said sadly.

Virgil considered saying something else, to try and reassure him, but Patton just looked out the window. Virgil sighed, and turned the music up.

“We should have brought popcorn,” Roman said.

The four of them – Roman, Remus, Patton and Logan – were studying in the library. Or rather, Remus and Logan were studying, talking in Spanish, Logan occasionally flipping through his notes to find a particular vocab word. Roman and Patton were shamelessly spying from a nearby table.

“What are they saying?” Patton asked. So far, the only parts of the conversation he’d been able to understand was the occasional correction from Remus or question from Logan.

“Nothing interesting, alas.” Roman sounded disappointed. “Remus seems… well behaved.”

Patton hummed, doodling cats in his notebook. His mind kept wandering back to the record store yesterday, to the conversation in the car, to Virgil basically admitting that he would hide if anything was wrong.

“Perhaps we should take bets on how long until Remus gives up and does something widely inappropriate.”

“Sure,” Patton answered.

Roman nudged him. “Everything Gucci?”

Patton stirred. “Sorry, what?”

“You spaced out,” Roman said, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “I hope my presence isn’t that boring.”

Patton shook his head quickly. “No! It’s not. I’m sorry, I was just-.”

“Thinking?” Roman guessed. “It’s okay, I just- do you want to talk about it?”

Patton hesitated, rolling his pen between his fingers. Perhaps another perspective would help… “What do you know about Janus Verona?”

Roman froze. “Nothing! Who’s Janus Verona? I mean, uh,” he coughed. “Why do you ask?”

“He was talking to my brother yesterday,” Patton said. “What if he’s- blackmailing him or something?”

Roman shifted in his seat. “Well, did you ask him what was going on?”

“He _said_ it was just about English.”

“Well, there you go! Nothing to worry about.”

Patton shook his head. “But that’s what Virgil would say if something _was_ wrong.”

“It’s also what he’d say if they were talking about English,” Roman countered.

“But why would they be? Janus never talks to anyone unless he wants something, why talk to Virgil? And why now?”

“Well,” Roman offered, “Maybe he likes Virgil.”

It sounded impossible. But Janus _had_ been smiling while Virgil had spoken, had even laughed, and Virgil didn’t seem too upset. Surely, Patton would have been able to tell if Virgil was worried about something.

Perhaps Patton should stop worrying about it for now.

“Speaking of liking someone,” Roman said, cutting through Patton’s thoughts. “Are you going to Brad’s party on Friday?”

Brad’s parties were a thing of legend at Padua High School. He threw one at least once a semester, and invited everyone who wanted to come. Patton had never been, but he’d heard enough stories of drunken hook ups to get an idea of what they were like.

“I wasn’t planning to,” he answered. “Why?”

“We should go together,” Roman said. “Not as a date! Just as friends. Logan can come, too.”

“What am I going to?” Logan asked. He and Remus must be finished with their session, because they were now taking seats at Roman and Patton’s table.

“Roman was inviting us to Brad’s party,” Patton answered.

“Oh, you have to go,” Remus said. “Brad’s parties are _the best_ for getting wasted.”

Logan frowned. “Is that supposed to encourage me?”

“Oh, live a little, Pocket Protector,” Remus shot back. “Surely you can go _one night_ without being so serious.”

“I’m always serious,” Logan answered. “And it wouldn’t be fair to Patton to go alone.”

“I’d like to go,” Patton said.

Logan stared at Patton as if he had never seen him before. “What about your father?”

Patton loved his father. But just once, he wanted to be a teenager.

“I’ll figure something out,” Patton said. “But I don’t want to go without my best friend.”

Logan hesitated, and the sighed and nodded. “Fine. I suppose I can go for a while.”

“Great,” Roman said, grinning. “This is going to be the best night ever.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “You said that last time.”

“And this time is going to be even better, because this time no one’s going to cause any property damage, and then give my name instead of theirs when they get caught which of course they believe because we look identical and then I have to pay hundreds of dollars for some ugly vase!”

Logan and Patton stared at Roman. “Uh, what?”

“Yeah, there’s no way that will happen,” Remus said. He smiled. “I’d never try the same trick twice.”

Going unnoticed in Mr Williams English class was a balancing act. Look too attentive, and Virgil was inviting Mr Williams to call on him. Don’t look attentive enough, and he’d be asked to prove that he was paying attention. The best way to get around it, Virgil had found, was to spend his time taking notes. It wasn’t a fool proof method, but at least it was something that Mr Williams couldn’t find a way to fault him for.

So Virgil kept his head down, focusing entirely on the notes he was taking as Mr Williams talked about the way marriage in the sixteenth century differed from today, and acted as though he couldn’t tell that Mr Williams was looking at him every five seconds as he spoke.

Mr Williams cut off suddenly, and Virgil looked up to see what had distracted him. He followed his classmates’ eyes to the side of the room, where Janus had raised his hand. For some reason, the sight made Virgil’s heart speed up.

“Yes?” Mr Williams asked.

“Actually,” Janus said, “I agree with Virgil’s point from yesterday.”

Several students looked Virgil’s way and he ducked his head, cheeks burning. What was Janus doing?

Mr Williams cleared his throat. “Well-.”

“In fact, the nature of Petruchio and Katherina’s relationship was likely a point of contention even among contemporary audiences.”

Virgil couldn’t look away as Janus argued, hands gesturing as he spoke. He’d come prepared, backed up with sources to show his points, and all the time, his smile was like a snare. This was Janus in his element, Janus doing exactly what he was meant to do. In this moment, Janus had all the power.

“That’s enough,” Mr Williams snapped, cutting off Janus’ point. Janus blinked, as if he’d forgotten he was still in the classroom. “There’s a time and place for this kind of discussion, and when I’m trying to teach isn’t it.”

“I’m sorry,” Janus said, almost sounding sincere. “I thought you’d welcome hearing a student’s interpretation of the text. Surely that’s what a good teacher would do, wouldn’t you agree?”

Mr Williams’ face turned red. “Get out.”

“Excuse me?” Janus asked, looking so taken aback it was almost funny. What had he expected to happen?

“I will not have my teaching insulted. If you don’t like how I run my classroom, you’re free to leave.”

Janus narrowed his eyes, and for a moment, the entire classroom seemed to hold their breath, watching.

“Fine,” he snapped at last, and stood up and marched out of the classroom, swinging his bag onto his shoulder in one fluid motion as he went.

The class remained silent even after the door slammed shut.

Mr Williams switched his attention to Virgil. “You, too.”

Virgil went still, heat rising up inside him and pushing on his lungs. “I didn’t do anything,” he managed to choke out.

“It’s clear that the two of you are in cahoots, and I won’t stand for it. Out.”

Virgil shoved his books into his bag, unable to look up and see everyone watching him. His eyes stung, and his chest felt tight. He hurried out of the classroom, hoping no one would see how he was blinking back tears.

Outside, Janus leaned against the wall of lockers opposite the classroom. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Virgil. “Did you walk out?”

“I got _kicked_ out,” Virgil muttered, leaving against the wall and then sliding down it until he was on the ground. He wondered what they were talking about in the classroom, how much Virgil would miss and how long it would take him to catch up.

“Oh,” Janus said. “I should have known he’d take it out on you. I’m sorry.”

Virgil shook his head, barely even noticing that someone was actually apologising to him for something. He had to focus on keeping his breathing even instead, so he wouldn’t break down in the middle of the corridor.

In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. Just like his therapist showed him.

“Are you alright?” Janus asked, sounding uncertain.

“Fine,” Virgil said, harsher than he’d meant to. He leaned his head back against the wall. His eyes had stopped stinging now, so it was probably safe for Janus to see his face. “Why’d you do that, anyway?”

“Sic semper tyrannis,” Janus replied smoothly.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Like John Wilkes Booth?”

“I was _referring_ to the assassination of Julius Caesar,” Janus snapped, looking huffy.

“Pretty sure you need a few more senators for that.”

“If you want a job done well, do it yourself.”

Virgil snorted, and then slapped a hand over his mouth to hide it. Damn it, he should not be finding Janus charming. “Seriously, though, what do you want?”

“Want?” Janus echoed.

“For standing up for me back there,” Virgil clarified.

Janus didn’t look any less confused. “I didn’t do it expecting payment.”

Virgil shook his head. “Then why? Why help, why talk to me?”

“Must I have an ulterior motive?”

“Everyone has an ulterior motive.”

Janus smiled, though there was no warmth to it. “How delightfully cynical of you.”

Virgil wasn’t going to give in that easily. He crossed his arms and glared. Eventually, Janus sighed.

“Come to Brad’s party with me,” he said.

Virgil almost choked. “ _What?”_

“This Friday. You must have heard of it.”

“Of course I’ve heard of it. But _why_?”

Janus spread his hands, and Virgil was reminded of a magician. _Nothing up my sleeves_. “No strings, no schemes. I just want to spend time with you.”

Virgil gaped at him. His mind whirred to figure out what was happening, and then promptly crashed and needed rebooting. Was Janus asking him on a date? No, that wasn’t possible. There was no way Janus needed to settle for someone like him.

Janus was watching him, waiting for a reply, but he didn’t say anything. He was giving Virgil time to decide.

This probably was some kind of plot. Janus was trying to lure him somewhere so he could murder him or something. The idea was strangely calming compared to the alternative.

The bell cut through Virgil’s panic. Any second now, the hallways would be teeming with teenagers. This strange moment was going to end, and Virgil needed to answer.

He pushed himself to his feet, and met Janus’ eyes. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and then did the only thing he could do: he walked away.

“Is that a yes?” Janus called after him.

“No,” Virgil shot back over his shoulder, not slowing down his pace. Students were beginning to file out of their classrooms now, filling the corridor.

“Is it a no?”

Virgil froze, and students flowed around him. “… No,” he said at last, not even sure if Janus would be able to hear him.

He didn’t look back to check. He hurried towards his next class, cheeks burning.

Virgil spent the rest of that day and the next thinking – or rather _over_ thinking – about the party. The smart thing, he knew, would be to not show up. It wasn’t like he’d promised Janus that he’d been there, after all, and he didn’t _owe_ Janus anything.

He groaned and flopped back on his bed so he was staring at the ceiling. He still had most of tomorrow to decide – the party didn’t start until the evening, but he had a feeling he would just continue to worry about it.

Already, his mind was throwing out a billion scenarios. He went, and humiliated himself in front of Janus, so Janus never wanted to speak to him again. He went, and it turned out it was all a joke after all.

So then he’d decide that he definitely wasn’t going, but then what if Janus got pissed because he though Virgil had stood him up?

Virgil rubbed a hand over his face. He was no closer to figuring it out, and any energy that wasn’t being spent on worrying he’d spent dodging Janus in the halls. It wasn’t that he _wanted_ to avoid him, it was just that he didn’t know what to do if he did see him.

A knock at his door pulled him from his thoughts, and Virgil sighed and sat up.

“Come in,” he called.

Patton pushed the door open and hopped onto Virgil’s bed. “What’s got you all gloomy?”

“Nothing,” Virgil replied, and when Patton frowned, he added, “Just thinking about something that happened at school.”

“Good something or bad something?” Patton asked.

“I have no idea,” Virgil admitted. “It might not even be a something at all. I’m probably worrying over nothing.”

“If you’re worrying about it then it’s not nothing,” Patton gently chided.

Virgil managed a smile. “Thanks, Pat.”

Patton leaned against Virgil. It was something they’d figured out years ago, to deal with times when Virgil was too keyed up for a hug, but still needed some kind of contact.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Patton asked quietly after a while.

Virgil shook his head. Going to his little brother for relationship advice felt like a whole new level of pathetic. Besides, Patton would just get excited and assume it was a date, even though that probably wasn’t what Janus had meant at all. Then Virgil would have to deal with the added humiliation of someone else knowing how wrong he was about the whole situation.

Best to not say anything.

“I just need to figure it out by myself,” Virgil said. He glanced over. “Anyway, did you want something? Or did you just come in to check on me?”

Patton shifted in his seat. “I was going to ask you something,” he said. “But it can wait until you’re feeling better.”

Virgil shook his head. “No, ask me. I need something to distract me.”

Patton hesitated, then shook his head. “No, that’s okay. It was silly anyway.”

“Patton,” Virgil said warningly.

Patton sighed. “Do you remember how dad said I wasn’t allowed to go to parties because he didn’t want me unsupervised around lots of drunk people?”

Virgil nodded warily.

“Well, I was thinking, it you went with me, it’d technically be supervision. But you don’t have to!” he added quickly. “I know you don’t like parties.”

Not liking them was an understatement. But then, Patton probably didn’t know just how disastrous his first and last party had been.

“I thought you weren’t interested in going to parties?”

Patton shrugged. “It just never seemed like a possibility. But a bunch of friends are going, and I thought it could be fun.”

Patton sounded wistful, and it made something tug at Virgil’s heart. “What friends?”

Patton hesitated. “Oh, just Logan and some other people.”

“Other people,” Virgil said flatly. A blush was starting to form on Patton’s face.

“A huh,” Patton said, picking at his trousers. “Just some people in my year.”

“Do those people include Roman Prince?” Virgil asked.

Patton froze, then nodded.

Virgil sighed. “Patton…”

“It’s not a date,” Patton said. “We’re just going together. But not _together_! You know?”

Virgil knew that it sounded like a recipe for disaster.

“Maybe you shouldn’t spend so much time together,” he said. “You’ll just end up getting hurt.”

“I don’t think I _can_ get hurt while I’m in this house,” Patton said bitterly, and something twisted in Virgil’s chest.

“Dad just wants to keep you safe.” _So do I,_ he didn’t add.

Patton deflated. “I know,” he said. “It’s just… how can I be safe if I never get to do anything for myself? I’m going to have to leave home eventually.”

It wasn’t something Virgil like to think about, thought that might just be the existential dread that came whenever he thought about the future for too long.

But Patton looked disheartened, and Virgil hated seeing him like that. It would just be one party. And it’s not like he’d be alone. Virgil could keep an eye on him.

“When’s the party?” he asked.

“This Friday,” Patton answered.

Yeah, Virgil probably should have figured that out by now.

“You mean Brad’s party?” Patton nodded. “Okay. Okay, I’ll go with you.”

Patton glanced over, surprised. “You don’t have to.”

Virgil shook his head. “No, it’s okay.” And then, because Patton wouldn’t be convinced by just that, “I was actually thinking of going anyway.”

“Really?” Patton asked. He narrowed his eyes. “Does this have something to do with the thing?”

Virgil looked away. “Maybe,” he admitted.

“You’re sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yes, Patton,” Virgil said. “It might be fun.”

“I promise I’ll make it up to you,” Patton said throwing his arms around Virgil.

“You don’t need to do anything, Pat,” Virgil said.

Patton pulled away, grinning. “I need to let everyone else know that I’m going!”

Patton hopped off Virgil’s bed and practically skipped to the doorway, where he stopped. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Virgil replied.

Patton left the room, leaving Virgil with his thoughts. He lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

So he was going to Brad’s party after all. And he’d probably see Janus there. And probably _talk_ to Janus there.

Which was fine. If he did see Janus, that was. He might not. Which was also fine. Virgil didn’t care if he saw Janus or not. Why would he? Just because Janus had gone two conversations without insulting him, and stood up for him against Mr Williams, and looked very charming while doing so-

No. Virgil was not getting a crush on Janus Verona. That couldn’t happen.

It might be happening.

Crap.

Virgil buried his head in his pillow and screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Underage drinking, description of a panic attack, implied references to sexual assault (though it's never outright stated that that's what the character is worrying about)
> 
> This is one of the chapters I've been looking forward to writing since I started planning this thing, so I hope you like it!

This was a bad idea.

Scratch that, this was a _terrible_ idea, and Virgil was clearly insane for ever agreeing to it.

They were parked outside Brad’s house, or at least, as close to it as they could get - the street was littered with cars. Virgil’s hands were still clutched tight around the steering wheel, and he was trying to keep his breathing even.

“Virgil?” Patton said. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Virgil said.

“Crowds do heighten your anxiety,” Logan observed from the backseat. “Perhaps it would be best if you don’t come with us.”

Virgil shook his head. “I promised Dad I’d keep an eye on you.”

Patton had not asked for permission so much as told Remy that they were going, and they had Virgil with them, and surely Remy trusted Virgil to keep an eye on them. Remy had agreed to let them go with the look of a man who was trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

“Falsehood,” Logan said. “You promised your father you’d keep an eye on Patton. You are under no such obligations to me.”

Virgil rolled his eyes fondly. Perhaps he didn’t have any _official_ responsibility for Logan, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to look out for him. With how much time Logan and Patton spent together, Logan was practically another brother at this point.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Virgil said, getting out of the car before he could change his mind.

Inside turned out to be just as crowded and loud as Virgil had feared. Teens spilled out of rooms, holding drinks and yelling to be heard over the music that was blaring as if this was a club rather than just a house party. In short, it was Virgil’s idea of hell.

“Oh!” Patton shouted. “There’s Roman.”

Virgil tried to look in the direction Patton had indicated, but it was too crowded to make out who Patton was talking about. People were all around them at this point, boxing them in.

Patton grabbed Logan and made his way through the crowd. Virgil watched them go, unsure if he should follow them. He didn’t like the thought of Patton being off by himself somewhere like this, where anything could happen. But he also didn’t want to ruin Patton’s fun by hanging over his like an embarrassing shadow.

He began to move through the crowd, looking for somewhere he could breathe. Logan was with Patton, and Logan wouldn’t let Patton do anything stupid. Virgil would check in on them every now and again, but otherwise leave them alone.

The crush of bodies was making the air thinner. His fingertips were tingling. He spotted a door that looked like a bathroom, and pushed towards it, barely aware of his surroundings. When he reached it, he nearly fell against it in relief.

He tried the handle. Locked. He’d have to find somewhere else.

He needed to get away from the crowd. He couldn’t breathe, and his head felt like it was going to split in two. Maybe there was another bathroom upstairs. He pushed his way towards the hallway, but people were everywhere, pressing in on him, trapping him.

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Virgil swung around. His shoulder buzzed, as if even his cells were trying to escape the sudden touch.

“You made it,” Janus said, a small smile on his face.

Virgil should say something, had to say something, before Janus thought he was a weirdo, but conversation was well out of the window by now. He just stared, as if that would make the world fit back in place. Janus frowned.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

That was something he could answer. He shook his head, tears blurring his vision.

Janus placed a hand around Virgil’s wrist. “Come on.”

Janus moved through the crowd and Virgil staggered behind him. They moved easier now that Janus was leading him, the difference between wading through a swimming pool and fighting against the current of a stormy sea. Janus’ hand stayed firm on Virgil’s wrist, an anchor, stopping them from getting separated.

Cool air hit Virgil face, and the world opened up around him. They were outside, now. Janus led Virgil to a swing bench, and Virgil collapsed onto it. He pulled his knees up tight to his body and buried his face in them.

Even here, in the open air, he still couldn’t breathe.

“Virgil.” Janus’ voice was quiet but firm. “I need you to breathe with me. Is that okay?”

Virgil nodded.

“Is there a breathing exercise you normally use?”

“Four seven eight,” Virgil mumbled into his jeans.

“Okay. We’re going to breathe in for four, okay?”

Janus quietly counted out each step. He didn’t manage to hold for seven the first two times, but Janus didn’t comment, just adjusted his counting and kept going, quietly telling him he was doing well in between each step.

Slowly, the pain in his chest fell away, replaced by an uncomfortable numbness that made his fingertips buzz, and then that, too, faded.

“Fuck,” Virgil muttered.

He really couldn’t go five minutes without a panic attack. And, as if that wasn’t humiliating enough, he’d really just made the boy he liked take him outside and look after him, like he was some little kid.

“It’s okay,” Janus said.

“It’s not. I can’t believe I did that.”

“Yes, how inconsiderate of you to have a panic attack. I’m sure you just _love_ feeling like you’re dying at the most inconvenient times.”

Virgil slowly uncurled himself. It was surprisingly quiet outside. It made the party feel like it was in another world. Virgil was in a new one now, and he and Janus were the only two people in it.

“I’m okay now,” Virgil said.

“Good.” Janus made no attempt to move.

“So you can go,” Virgil clarified. “Enjoy the party. Hope I didn’t ruin it too badly.”

“Watching a bunch of teenagers get belligerently drunk and make terrible decisions _does_ sound like fun,” Janus mused. “But I think I’d rather stay with you.”

Virgil shook his head. “Why?”

“Again with the cynicism,” Janus sighed. “I thought we’d already covered that I want to spend time with you.”

“Ordinarily, maybe,” Virgil said, though he still wasn’t sure _why_. “But I’m not exactly fun to be around.”

“On the contrary, I’d say you were _far_ better company than any of the imbeciles in there.” Janus looked Virgil in the eyes. “If you’re trying to get me to leave because you don’t want me around, then I will go. But I have a feeling that’s not the case.”

If Janus left, Virgil would be alone. He’d either have to wait outside like a weirdo, or go back inside and act like he wasn’t completely out of place. He didn’t know which option was worse.

“You can stay,” Virgil grumbled.

Janus tilted his head back so he was looking at the sky. In the light from the house, Virgil could only just make out the raised skin of the scar that covered the left side of his face. “How generous of you,” he remarked with a smile.

“I think you should stop for now,” Logan said.

Roman looked over to see that Patton had gotten hold of yet another drink, and was downing it quickly. What was that, his third? Fourth? Either way Logan was probably right.

“It’s fine, Lo!” Patton said when he came up for air. “I feel fine!”

“You’ll probably feel less fine tomorrow,” Remus remarked. Even he looked concerned, which meant that Logan was definitely right.

Roman took the cup out of Patton’s hands and held it out of his reach. Patton pouted and made grabby hands, but Roman refused to be swayed.

“How about we dance for a bit instead?” Roman offered.

The pout instantly disappeared, replaced by the kind of smile that could blind a guy from ten feet away. “Sure!”

They made their way to the living room, which had been turned into an impromptu dance floor, the furniture pushed against the wall to make more space. Patton held Roman’s hand as they went, and Roman tried his hardest to keep calm. He would _not_ swoon just because he was holding hands with a pretty boy.

They found a slightly less crowded spot, and began moving in time with the music. Roman lifted their still joined hands in the air, and Patton spun underneath them.

Patton stumbled as he finished, almost falling into Roman’s chest. He giggled. “Oopsie.”

Roman smiled, though it seemed that dancing might not be the best activity at present, even if it did keep Patton from drinking. He looked around for Logan and Remus, but they must have stayed in the other room.

He turned back to Patton, about to suggest they get some air, only to find Patton was staring at him intently.

Before he could ask what was wrong, Patton stood on his tip-toes and leaned in to kiss him.

Roman wanted to kiss Patton. He really, really did. But he wasn’t going to have their first kiss when Patton was drunk, when he couldn’t tell if this was what Patton really wanted or just a lack of inhibitions.

He took a step back, and pressed his hand against Patton’s shoulder to stop him from closing the gap.

For a moment, Patton just looked confused, and then realisation and hurt rushed in.

“Oh,” Patton squeaked as he took a step back.

Distantly, Roman was aware that the people around them had stopped dancing and were staring. But all he could focus on was the way Patton looked like Roman had just torn his heart of his chest.

“Patton,” Roman began, unsure what to say.

“I’m sorry,” Patton said, tears filling his eyes.

Roman took a step forwards, reaching out to him, but Patton had already turned away. He plunged into the crowd, pulled away from the current.

Roman could only watch, unsure how things had gone so terrible so fast.

 _“Way out of his league,”_ someone said, and Roman glared in the direction it had come from.

A group of girls were huddled together, watching. One of them, at least, had the decency to look guilty.

Roman turned away and pushed through the crowd, leaving them behind. Arguing with them would do nothing except waste time. Right now, all that mattered was finding Patton and making it up to him.

“How come you were so good at that?” Virgil asked.

“I’m good at many things,” Janus replied, his lips curving into a smug smile. It would be infuriating, if Virgil didn’t secretly think it was cute. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

Virgil gestured towards himself. “ _That_. Most people take way longer to figure out what’s going on.”

Janus turned away. “Panic attacks are awful, aren’t they?”

Virgil was about to ask what that meant, but Janus cut him off. “I will admit this isn’t going _completely_ how I had planned.”

Virgil snorted. “You mean you didn’t plan on wasting your evening out here?”

“I don’t usually plan first dates with the intention of causing the other person to have a panic attack,” Janus clarified.

Virgil’s mouth went dry. So this was a date? He stared at his feet, humiliation hot against his ribcage. So he’d got his wish, only to ruin it so badly there wasn’t going to be another one. That was some kind of monkeys paw bullshit.

“I suppose you’ll have to choose what we do for the next one. It’s clearly one area I’m not skilled in,” Janus continued, and Virgil’s head shot back up.

“Next one?” Virgil echoed.

“First dates are traditionally followed by a second, yes,” Janus said, as if _Virgil_ was the one not making any sense.

Virgil was about to reply when a figure stumbled out of the house and dropped to the ground. A very familiar figure.

“What the fuck,” Virgil hissed.

Janus’ eyes widened, confusion and hurt flickering across his face, but Virgil was already moving, racing across the lawn to where the figure was sat crumpled on the grass.

“Patton?” Virgil asked.

Patton looked up, tears coating his face. He was hugging his cat cardigan tight to his body. Virgil crouched down in front of him, scanning over him. Not injured, thank God, but what the hell had happened?

“Virgil?” Patton asked, voice breaking. “Can- can we go home now?”

Virgil nodded, anxiety crawling up his chest and blocking his throat. What was wrong with him? And where was Logan?

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, Pat. Come on.” He reached out a hand, and helped Patton to his feet. Patton wobbled slightly as he got up, he must be drunk, and Virgil’s mind flashed through a hundred possibilities, each one worse than the last.

Had someone done something to Patton? How was Virgil supposed to ask?

“Is everything alright?” Janus asked, coming over.

Just the sight of someone else, someone who wasn’t panicking, filled Virgil with a sense of relief.

“I- I need to take Patton home,” he said. “But first I need to find Logan. Do you know where he is?”

Patton shook his head. “He was with Remus, I think?”

 _Remus_ probably meant Remus Prince, and that just opened up a whole other load of questions.

“Okay,” Virgil said. He’d have to go back inside to look for Logan, but that would mean leaving Patton alone.

“Go,” Janus said quietly. “I’ll look after him.”

Virgil nodded, and squeezed Patton’s arm. “I’ll be right out,” he promised, and headed back into the house.

Inside that crowd pressed upon him immediately, a Virgil felt as if a static cloud was surrounding him, electrifying him. He forced himself to keep moving, keep pushing his way through the room. Why did there have to be so many _people_? It was just making it harder for him to get back to Patton.

He pushed into the living room, scanning for Logan. Remus Prince seemed like the kind of guy who would be at the centre of attention, but Logan was the complete opposite. Who would win out between them?

A hand grabbed his arm, and a voice shouted “Virgil!”

Virgil spun, and tore his arm away from the boy in front of him, who was dressed in a white t-shirt under a red jacket.

“Have you seen Patton?” the boy shouted. “He ran off- I can’t him.”

Virgil’s hands clenched into fists. There was only one person this boy could be, and it wasn’t someone Virgil wanted to see. “Roman Prince?”

The boy - Roman – nodded.

Virgil put one hand in the centre of the Roman’s chest and _shoved_ , sending him staggering back, almost colliding with a group of dancers.

“I don’t know what you did and you better pray you don’t find out,” Virgil snarled, stalking forwards. Roman’s eyes widened. The dancers had turned to see what was going on, but Virgil didn’t care. There was no room for anything but anger in him now. “Stay the fuck away from my brother.”

He pushed past the stunned Roman, and the crowd parted easily. He left the living room, and entered the dining room, where the crowd became thick like molasses again. Finally, he was able to push his way into the kitchen, where it was easier to breathe.

Logan was stood next to the sink, drink in hand, talking to a boy who was perched on a counter top.

Virgil saw red. He began to march over there to rip Roman away from Logan, until his brain registered that this boy was dressed in a green and black crop top, and was wearing purple eyeshadow. Not Roman. Which meant that this must be Remus.

Remus Prince might not be much better than Roman.

“Hey,” Virgil called as he got near. Logan and Remus both looked over. “I’m taking Patton home.”

Logan frowned, his brow furrowing. “Is he alright?”

Just like that, his anger disappeared, replaced by overwhelming exhaustion. “I don’t know. He came out crying, and I’m pretty sure he’s drunk.”

“Yes, I noticed he was drinking rather quickly.” Logan’s voice sounded even, but Virgil could see the way he tugged at his collar. “I should have tried harder to stop him.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” Remus said, nudging Logan. “Pattycake can make his own decisions. Besides, Roman was with him.” He turned to Virgil. “What happened?”

“Why don’t you ask your brother that,” Virgil spat, and Remus reeled back.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It _means_ Roman did something to my brother!”

Remus shook his head. “Roman would never-.”

“Oh, and I’m supposed to trust _you_ on that?”

“Enough!” Logan snapped, stepping between the two of them. “This isn’t helping. Virgil, did Patton say what happened?”

Virgil shook his head, teeth clamped tight together.

“Then there is no point in speculating. Once we know what really happened, we can figure out what to do about it.”

He was right, and Virgil knew it. He forced himself to let out a deep breath. “Fine,” he muttered.

Logan nodded. “I assume you came to let me know you were leaving?”

“Yeah. Are you coming with us?”

“That would just add an unnecessary detour to your journey. I will find my own way home.”

Virgil shot a suspicious glance at Remus. “Are you sure? I don’t like the idea of you getting a lift with someone else. Maybe I could come back and pick you up?”

“Again, it’s appreciated but unnecessary. I have a standing agreement with my mothers that should it be necessary, they will pick me up from anywhere I require.”

Remus leaned closer to Logan. “I’ll stay with you while you wait,” he offered. “By the way, has anyone ever told you you’re hot when you take charge like that?”

Logan shot him an exasperated look, but didn’t object.

That was something to overthink another time. Virgil gave a quick salute to Logan, and then hurried out of the house.

He froze in place outside of the door, because Janus and Patton were gone. There was no sign of them anywhere in the yard. The panic that flooded through him knocked his breath away, and his hands shook as pulled his phone out to call them. There was text from Patton already there; Virgil must have missed the notification.

 _This is Janus_ , it read. _Patton and I are going to your car to wait for you_.

Relief flooded through him, and Virgil took a shaky breath as he rushed to his car. They were fine. He’d drive Patton home, and then everything would fine. And if it _wasn’t_ fine, then Virgil was going to murder Roman Prince.

Janus and Patton were waiting together, Janus looking rather out of place. Patton was still hugging his chest, but he’d stopped crying at least. Virgil was torn between interrogating him about what had happened right there in the street, and putting him straight to bed to sleep it off.

“Logan’s getting a lift from his mother,” Virgil told Patton. He turned to Janus. “Thank you for staying with him.”

“It was a total inconvenience and I expect to be compensated for every second of it,” Janus replied. His face was perfectly deadpan, but Virgil was pretty sure he was kidding. He held out his hand. “Give me your keys, I’ll drive you back.”

Virgil shook his head. “I’m fine, I didn’t drink anything.”

“You’re shaking,” Janus said, and Virgil lifted one hand to see it tremble. “I’ll drive.”

That would just add _another_ way Virgil was bothering Janus. How long until Janus got fed up with him, and decided he never wanted to see him again?

But what if he _did_ drive, and have a panic attack and not be able to control the car and roll off a cliff or something. Sure, there weren’t any cliffs in the area, but it could still happen-

Okay, yeah, maybe Virgil was panicking.

He handed his keys over, and then went to help Patton into the backseat, before getting in the car himself.

It was weird, sitting in the passenger seat of his own car. Janus pulled away from the curb, and Virgil plugged his address into his phone’s GPS. Once he was done, he twisted in his seat to look at Patton.

“You okay, Pat?”

“Dad’s going to kill me,” Patton replied miserably.

“No he’s not,” Virgil assured him. “Dad’s, like, incapable of staying mad at you. He’ll probably just kill _me_ for not keeping an eye on you.”

“If you’re referring to Patton being drunk,” Janus said, “Then your father doesn’t _have_ to know.”

Virgil shook his head. “We don’t lie to each other,” he said firmly.

“So you tell him everything about your life then?” Janus asked. “What are his thoughts on Mr Williams?”

Virgil glared. Remy knew that he didn’t like his English teacher, but that was it. He wasn’t going to add to his father’s worries. Besides it wasn’t like anything would come of it. Mr Williams could do what he wanted.

“That’s not the same thing,” Virgil snapped.

“Isn’t it?” Janus asked. “So long as Patton is okay, which he will be, what good does telling him do?”

“That’s not the point,” Virgil argued, crossing his arms. “Besides, what if he finds out?”

“While that is a risk,” Janus admitted, “It’s a low one. How would your father find out?”

Virgil shook his head. “Whatever,” he muttered. He glanced back at Patton in the rear-view mirror. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow, okay?”

Patton nodded, though he still looked miserable.

They drove through the twisting streets of the town in silence. Several times, Virgil wanted to speak, but each time the words died before they reached his throat. What was he supposed to say?

“Virgil?” Patton asked after a while.

“Yeah?”

“Why is Janus driving your car?”

Virgil’s cheeks inexplicably heated, and Janus laughed.

“That, Patton, is because I have taken a liking to your dear brother,” Janus said. “And so I would rather he didn’t die in a fiery wreck.”

Patton nodded, looking thoughtful. He leaned closer to Virgil’s seat.

“Virgil?” he whispered, or at least, tried to whisper. He apparently didn’t have much control over his volume, so it was more of a stage whisper.

Virgil glanced at Janus, who just looked amused. “What?” he stage whispered back.

“Is Janus the thing?”

Virgil had to be bright red now. Janus raised an eyebrow. “Thing?” he asked.

“Hey, how about some music,” Virgil said loudly, fiddling with his phone.

Janus shook his head at the music that came out through the speakers. “Why am I not surprised this is what you listen to?”

“Because I have excellent taste, duh.” Virgil said.

“Well, then I suppose I should be flattered that you spent your evening with me.”

“Correction: I have excellent taste in _music_ ,” Virgil shot back, and Janus smiled.

Virgil shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Seriously, though,” he added. “Thanks. For everything you did tonight. It was pretty cool of you.”

Janus just nodded in response, his attention focused on the road, hands tight around the steering wheel. His expression was unreadable. Had Virgil said something wrong? Had Janus just been taking pity on Virgil and was now trying to figure out a way to gently tell him he wasn’t interested?

“Virgil!” Patton shouted from the back. “You should play this with your band!”

Janus’ mouth twitched. At least now he looked amused. “Band?”

“I don’t have a band,” Virgil said quickly. “Not yet, anyway. Maybe one day.”

“Let me guess: you will be the guitar player.”

Virgil nodded. “That and write music. Not that I’m much good at either.”

This wasn’t something he talked to anyone outside of his family about. It was too embarrassing, too easy to make fun of.

But it didn’t feel embarrassing, in the car with Janus.

“What about you?” Virgil said, changing the subject before he could think too hard about what that meant. “Do you play any instruments?”

“Piano and violin when I was a child,” Janus answered. “My parent’s idea. They claimed that it would be useful for my development. The fact that it gave them another two hours each week away from me had _nothing_ to do with it, I’m sure.”

Virgil had never heard anything about Janus’ parents. In fact, it had never really occurred to him that Janus _had_ parents. It felt as if Janus had just appeared at school one day, fully formed and ready to blackmail people.

Virgil knew what shitty parents were like. His birth parents had been great, but he’d spent enough time in the foster system after they’d died to get the full spectrum of shittiness. He wanted to say something, to commiserate, maybe, but Janus cut him off.

“Oh, look,” he said. “I believe this is your street. Which house is yours?”

“The blue one,” Virgil answered, letting the subject drop. “Just park in the driveway.”

Janus pulled in and turned off the engine.

“Thanks,” Virgil said, unbuckling his seat belt. He paused, hand on the door handle. “Wait, how are you going to get home?”

“I left my bike at the party,” Janus said. “I’ll walk back there and get it.”

Virgil shook his head. “No way. I’ll drive you there.”

“Virgil, the whole point of me doing this was so that you wouldn’t have to drive. It’s fine, I can walk.”

“It’s the middle of the night,” Virgil protested.

“This is hardly a dangerous area.”

“Stay here.”

Janus looked incredulously at him, and Virgil felt his cheeks heat as he realised what he’d just said.

“Stay here,” he continued, forcing his voice steady. “I can drive you back tomorrow.”

“Will your father approve of you having a strange boy over?” Janus asked.

“What was that you said about him not having to know everything?”

Still, Janus looked hesitant.

“If you leave, I’ll just worry,” Virgil said, which was perhaps underhand move but it was still true.

“Fine,” Janus said at last.

Satisfied, Virgil got out of the car. He hovered close to Patton as the three of them went up the driveway, ready in case Patton stumbled.

“We’re back,” Virgil shouted as he pushed open the door.

Upstairs, floorboards creaked. Remy must be moving to greet them.

“Were going straight to bed,” Virgil added hurriedly.

“You better not have done anything I wouldn’t do,” Remy called.

Virgil glanced at Janus, standing next to a red-rimmed Patton. “No,” he called, thinking back to the many cautionary tales he’d heard about Remy’s teenage exploits.

“Alright,” Remy called back, and Virgil breathed a sigh of relief.

Upstairs, Virgil pointed Janus in the direction of his bedroom, and then took Patton to his.

Patton dropped down on the bed, looking like he was going to fall asleep right then and there. Virgil shook his head fondly.

“You need to get out of your clothes,” he said.

“Don’t wanna,” Patton mumbled.

Virgil sighed, but didn’t bother to fight. He sat down next to Patton and began to untie his laces.

“Virge?” Patton mumbled.

“Yeah?” Virgil replied, easing the first shoe off Patton’s foot.

“I tried to kiss Roman.”

Virgil’s throat tightened. “What happened?”

Patton flipped onto his stomach, and buried his face in the pillow. “He didn’t want me.”

Virgil sighed, and pushed Patton onto his side. Rejection wasn’t as bad as some of the things Virgil had imagined, but that didn’t mean Roman Prince could hurt his brother and get away with it.

“Want me to kill him for you?” Virgil offered.

Patton shook his head. “I want him to want me back,” he said, voice breaking.

Yeah, Virgil was definitely going to murder Roman Prince. “If he doesn’t want you, that’s his problem, not yours.”

“Feels like it is mine, though.” Patton covered his face with an arm. “Can today just be over?”

“Pretty sure it is by now,” Virgil commented. He rubbed his hand along Patton’s arm. “Go to sleep, Pat.”

“’Kay,” Patton mumbled, and closed his eyes.

Virgil waited a moment longer, but Patton didn’t move. He was either asleep already, or he just didn’t want to talk.

Virgil stroked Patton’s hair, just like he had that first time, only a few weeks after Virgil had joined the family, when he’d crept into Virgil’s bed after a nightmare. Virgil had felt frozen in place as Patton had curled up beside him. He’d never had a brother before. He’d had no idea what to do or say to make it better, and he’d still been terrified that if he didn’t do the right thing, he’d get kicked out.

Seven years later, and he still didn’t know what to do to make everything okay.

“Love you Pat,” he whispered, then crept to his room.

There was nothing more he could do about Patton tonight. He had a whole other problem to deal with.

The other problem was sat on Virgil’s bed, looking at the posters that covered the walls. Virgil quickly grabbed his pyjamas.

“I’m going to get changed,” he explained. “You can take the bed.”

But when he got back, Janus was lying on the floor, his jacket bundled up to use as a pillow.

“I said you could take the bed,” Virgil said.

“It’s your house,” Janus answered.

Virgil should probably try to fight it, but he was far too tired. He crawled into bed and turned out the light.

Sleep never came easily, and someone else in his room only made it worse. After what felt like hours of staring at the ceiling, he rolled onto his side to look at Janus.

Janus didn’t seem to be asleep either, though Virgil couldn’t see his eyes. He was shivering in just his t-shirt, and it couldn’t be comfortable on the floor.

His bed was a double, there was plenty of room. And it was a hell of a lot warmer than the floor.

Was he really going to this?

“It’s a big bed,” Virgil said, and then rolled onto the other side so he didn’t have to look at Janus. Yep, apparently he was doing this.

“I mean, you could stay on one side and I could stay on the other. We wouldn’t even notice the other was there.”

There was silence, and Virgil felt like he was going to combust from the awkwardness. Great, now Janus probably thought he was a weirdo or a pervert or something.

There was the rustling of covers, and Virgil shut his eyes. He hardly dared breathe, but then realised that probably made him look like even more of a creep, so he tried to adjust his breathing. What the hell was a normal amount to breathe?

He felt the mattress dip as Janus got in next to him. He forced himself not to react, as if a cute boy crawling into his bed was something that happened all the time.

The only sound was Janus’ even breathing next to him. Virgil stared at the wall and tried not to think about how close the two of them were to each other.

Yeah, there was no way he getting any sleep tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being so late! Because of how long this took, I'm not updating this saturday (June 6th) so the next update will be Saturday June 13th, which should get me back on track to a saturday update schedule.
> 
> Warnings: mentions of underage drinking, mentions of possible underage sex (depends on the laws where you live, Virgil is 17 and Janus is 18) but no sex actually happens.

The first thing Janus registered was the warmth, which was normal considering the number of blankets he slept under each night. The second thing he noticed was a body pressed against him, which was decidedly not. His eyes shot open; Virgil was curled up next to him, still fast asleep. They were both on Virgil’s side of the bed, and Janus had one arm thrown over Virgil.

 _How much would Roman pay for_ this _?_ He wondered, slightly hysterical.

Carefully, Janus pulled himself away from Virgil and moved back to his side of the bed. Virgil began to shit as soon as Janus moved away, and Janus went still, hoping Virgil wouldn’t realise what Janus had just been doing.

Virgil blinked sleepily at him, and then froze, his eyes widening.

“Morning,” Janus said, stretching. There, now Virgil was the one off kilter, not him.

“Uh, hi,” Virgil grunted, sitting up.

It was the first time Janus had seen him like that; without his makeup, with his hair mussed from sleep. It was a secret Janus now knew, that only a handful of people shared. Better yet, it was a secret no one outside the room knew the existence of.

Virgil was staring at him, eyes scanning him up and down. Janus had dressed in just a t-shirt. His hat and gloves were off so that nothing was hiding his curls, the burns on one hand that matched his face.

He quickly reached out of the bed, busying himself in gathering up his clothes so that Virgil wouldn’t see the way his cheeks were starting to burn.

“ _Shit_ ,” Virgil hissed as Janus finished putting on his hat.

Virgil was staring at his alarm clock as if it had threatened to kill his entire family.

“Problem?” Janus asked.

“We overslept,” said Virgil. “My dad will be up.”

“Ah.” Janus knew that Virgil’s dad was strict. He didn’t want to find out how strict.

Virgil ran his fingers rapidly through his hair. “Shit, shit. He’s totally going to know you stayed the night.”

Virgil’s movements turned from him fiddling with his hair to tugging at it. Janus jerked forwards automatically to pull his hand away, but stopped himself. If someone had tried to do that to him when he was panicking, he’d probably have decked them.

“Virgil, listen to me.” Janus kept his voice even as he spoke. Virgil’s head twitched up, his eyes wide with panic. “It’s going to be okay.”

“My dad-”

“Doesn’t have to find out I was here. I’ll just leave without him noticing.”

Virgil began to shake his head, but Janus didn’t give him chance to think about what could go wrong.

“Where will your dad be?” Janus asked.

“Living room.”

“Good. And is there a way out that won’t take me past there?”

“Back door,” Virgil answered. He took a slow, deep breath in and then out. “I can distract him.”

“Are you sure?” Janus asked.

“Yeah,” Virgil said, and then, more certainly, “Yeah. I can do it.”

“Okay,” Janus said. “Then that’s what we’re going to do.”

Janus hurriedly put on his gloves and shoes while Virgil threw his usual hoodie on over his pyjamas.

“Ready?” Janus asked.

Virgil nodded and led the way out of the room. He took one step into the corridor before freezing. Janus stepped out next to him to see what was wrong.

Leaning against the wall opposite Virgil’s door was a man dressed in a leather jacket other a white t-shirt, wearing sunglasses.

“Morning, boys,” Remy Foster said.

“Ah,” said Janus. “I assume this is your father?”

Virgil just stared at his father as if he was watching the world crash down around him. Janus considered dragging Virgil back into the room and barricading the door.

“You guessed right,” Remy answered. With his sunglasses on, it was hard for Janus to read his face, but he didn’t look pleased. “We have a _lot_ to talk about, but first: _please_ tell me you used protection.”

“No!” Virgil blurted, face red, and Remy’s frown darkened. Janus placed a hand on Virgil’s arm.

“There was no need for protection, because we didn’t have sex,” Janus answered smoothly. Out of the corner of his eye, Virgil shot him a grateful look, but Janus kept eye contact with Remy.

“Virge?” Remy asked.

“He’s telling the truth,” Virgil said. “Janus gave me a lift home, and I let him stay the night. That’s all.”

Remy said nothing. Janus was beginning to wonder if he’d chosen to wear the sunglasses specifically because they made his expression so hard to read.

“Dad, I swear,” Virgil continued, and edge of panic tinting his voice. “Nothing _happened_.”

Remy sighed, and brought his fingers up to his temple as if trying to ward off a headache. “I believe you,” he said. “But we’re still gonna have to talk about this.”

Virgil slumped at that, lowering his head dejectedly. At the sight of it, Remy seemed to soften. He placed a hand on Virgil’s shoulder.

“I’m mad that you had a boy round without telling me,” Remy said. “But that just means that I’m upset at your actions, not who you are. Understand?”

Virgil nodded, sniffling suspiciously, and Remy pulled him into a hug.

Janus watched awkwardly, hovering in the hallway. It was clear, now that he’d seem them together, that Remy adored his son. He wondered what that felt like. Wondered if his parents had even noticed that he hadn’t come home last night.

“Go get dressed,” Remy said, pulling away. “I’ll give _Janus_ here a lift home.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Janus said, at the same time that Virgil said, _“Dad_ ”.

Remy looked straight at Janus, but his response was for Virgil. “A man can’t take an interest in his son’s friends?”

“Not when you plan to _interrogate_ him,” Virgil hissed.

“I left my bike at the party,” Janus said hurriedly, because he made a point of not spending time around parents. “I can walk there and get it.”

“Oh, you better tell me you mean a bicycle,” Remy said.

“Dad, you _own_ a motorbike,” Virgil protested.

“Which means I know they’re death traps! Excuse me if I don’t want your boyfriend pick you up on one of those!”

“He’s not my-” Virgil cut himself off. “I mean, uh,” he glanced at Janus, clearly uncertain with what he should say.

“Don’t look at me,” Janus said. “I’m still waiting for your answer about the second date.”

“I- wasn’t sure it was still on the table,” Virgil admitted.

“Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me,” Remy said. “You have a secret boyfriend?”

Virgil groaned and buried his head in his hands. “We went on one date!”

“I can’t believe you would hide something like that from me! What happened to not being able to pay you to date anyone?”

Janus winced at that comment. Fortunately, neither of the other two seemed to notice.

“I hate this,” Virgil muttered. He pointed an accusatory finger at Remy. “You’re doing this to torture me.”

“Yup,” Remy said. “Don’t hide things if you can’t face the consequences.”

“Does this mean you’re over it?” Virgil asked hopefully.

Remy didn’t miss a beat before replying. “Definitely not. And I still want a chat with your boytoy.”

“Boytoy?” Janus muttered to Virgil.

Remy swept past them to the stairs. “Oh gurl, if you think that’s bad, wait till I judge you on the bike you ride.”

“Boytoy?” Janus repeated when Remy was out of earshot.

“Ignore him,” said Virgil. “Please.”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “How worried should I be?”

Virgil sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “He’ll ask you a billion questions, and he might act disapproving, but he probably won’t try to stop us seeing each other.” He pulled a face. “Actually, uh, maybe don’t mention most of the shit you do.”

“I don’t mix business and pleasure,” Janus lied. “Does that mean you _want_ to see me again?”

Virgil looked away. “I mean, if you’re not scared away yet, sure,” he said to his feet.

“Why would I be scared away?” Janus asked. It was an honest question. Virgil was fun to be around – his sarcastic sense of humour matched Janus’. Janus would probably like him even if he wasn’t being _paid_ to like him, which- Was a train of thought he wasn’t going down.

“I can think of a few reasons,” Virgil muttered, but the corner of his mouth was twitching into a smile, the way it seemed to whenever Janus proved him wrong.

“Hurry up before I come back up there,” Remy shouted from downstairs.

“You should go,” Virgil said, sounding apologetic. “I’ll, uh, talk to you later?”

“Remember, it’s your turn to pick the date,” Janus said, leaving before Virgil had a chance to reply. Janus made it a rule to always get the last word, it made the other person more likely to remember him.

Downstairs, Remy was waiting by the door, tossing a set of keys in his hand. Neither of them said a word as they went out to the car. It was only after Janus had told Remy the address, and Remy had pulled out onto the road, that Remy spoke.

“So, why don’t you tell me what _really_ happened last night?”

“I think Virgil pretty much covered it,” Janus answered carefully. “Unless you don’t believe him?”

Remy frowned. Good, Janus had put him on the defensive, which meant he now had the upper hand.

“I believe that you two didn’t have sex,” Remy said. “But that doesn’t explain why you drove him home.”

“Virgil had a panic attack,” Janus said, and Remy stiffened. “I didn’t want him driving, so I offered to give him a lift instead.”

“A panic- why did Virgil have a panic attack?”

“I didn’t ask.” Technically true, though only because Janus had figured it out by himself.

Janus wasn’t sure what he should tell Remy. Oh, he knew what cards to play for himself- how to get Remy to drop it, or how to shift Remy’s suspicion off him and onto someone else- but for the first time, Janus wasn’t the only one he had to think about. How much had Virgil already told Remy? And how much did Virgil want Remy to find out?

“You know,” Remy said, his fingers drumming against the steering wheel. “My boys mentioned you.”

That couldn’t be good. “Oh?”

“Not recently. It must have been right after Patton started high school, he asked Virgil about whether the rumours about you were true. Do you know what Virgil told him?”

“I can imagine.”

“He told Patton to stay away from you, and to not believe anything you say. I wonder why he’d say that.”

“You know how rumours are,” Janus said, trying for a charming smile. It didn’t seem to be working.

“Virgil hasn’t had a panic attack in _months_ ,” Remy said. “And now he has one on his first date with you, and completely fails to mention it. The same night Patton got drunk – and yes, I know he was drunk. I’ve had enough hangovers to know what one looks like.”

“So you think I’m to blame,” Janus said, not bitter at _all_. “Have you ever thought that maybe your sons aren’t the angels you thought they were?”

“They didn’t hide things from me before you showed up,” Remy growled.

“Correction: They didn’t _get caught_ before I showed up.” Janus smiled, and this time he wasn’t trying to be charming at all. “I’d say that makes me a _good influence_ , don’t you?”

He’d gone too far, and he knew it. Not with Remy- he didn’t particularly care about how much Remy hated him- but with Virgil. All he could do was hope Virgil was able to minimise any damage he’d done.

“You know what,” Janus said, before he could hint at Virgil’s secrets more, “I can walk from here.”

Remy didn’t happy, but he still pulled over without a word. Janus felt some of his tension ease once the car came to a stop and Janus was able to scramble out.

He should just leave. If Remy tried to tell Virgil about the argument, he could always twist it so Virgil thought it was just Remy being overprotective. It wasn’t his problem, what Virgil’s relationship to his father was like, how scared he’d been. He was just in it for the money, and after a couple more dates, Roman would be satisfied and Janus would walk away and never have to think about it again.

The money was the only reason he’d done anything to help Virgil, as a way to get his attention, to make Virgil see him as the hero of the story.

“By the way,” Janus said, before he could stop himself. “You might want to ask yourself why they feel the need to hide things from you.”

He slammed the door shut, and walked away. It was while before he heard Remy’s care pull away from the curb, but he barely paid attention to it.

He was too busy trying to find a way to justify that outburst.

Patton was never drinking again.

His head throbbed as he stared miserably at his phone, buried under the covers. Roman must have been texting him all night- Patton had eight unread messages from him. He tapped on the single message Logan had sent last night, which asked him to text as soon as he woke up so Logan would know he’d gotten home okay.

Patton cast a guilty glance at the time- past eleven already- and hoped he hadn’t made Logan worry. He quickly began to type out a reply when his bedroom door opened.

“Hey,” Virgil said quietly, coming to sit on his bed.

“Hey,” Patton replied as he hit send on the text.

Virgil looked nowhere near as bad as Patton felt. Maybe Virgil had been right about parties- they were clearly the work of the devil.

“How are you feeling?” Virgil asked.

Patton pulled a face. “Yucky.” He remembered hearing voices in the hallway earlier. “What was dad talking to you about?”

Virgil looked away. “He, uh, found out that Janus had stayed the night.”

“Wait, what?” Patton asked.

He knew that Janus had driven them home, and he remembered seeing Janus in their house, but he’d assumed that Janus had left after he’d fallen asleep.

“Uh, yeah,” Virgil said. “You didn’t know?”

Patton shook his head and groaned. “How drunk _was I_ last night?”

“If it makes you feel better,” Virgil said. “You seemed more interested on embarrassing me than yourself.”

“How much trouble are we in?” Patton asked.

“I… honestly have no idea,” Virgil said. “When he got back I thought he was going to ground me or something but he just kept saying that I can tell him anything.”

“Huh,” Patton said. “Did he mention me?”

“Not really. It was weird. I just hope he didn’t scare Janus away.”

“What _is_ going on between you and Janus?” Patton asked, because he’d tried to figure it out last night, but apparently drunk Patton didn’t make a good detective.

“We’re going on another date,” Virgil said, shrugging.

Patton sat up in excitement. “Virgil!” he exclaimed. “You have a date!? Wait – _another_ date? When was the first?”

Virgil winced. “Last night.”

Patton prodded Virgil on the arm. “Why didn’t you tell me, mister?”

“I didn’t _know_ it was date at the time!”

“Still! I can’t believe this – you’re growing up!”

“I’m _older than you_ ,” Virgil grumbled, prodding Patton in the stomach.

Patton bent over to shield his stomach from further attacks, giggling. “My son has a date!”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

Patton still wasn’t sure how he felt about Janus, not with how much he’d heard about him. Apparently, one of Virgil’s friends had ended up on the wrong side of Janus and things had gotten nasty. But Virgil was smiling shyly and blushing at just the mention of the other boy and, well, how could Patton dislike someone who made his brother look like that?

It was so different from the way Virgil had looked only a week ago, the last time the possibility of Virgil dating someone had been brought up.

The thought made him think of what else had happened a week ago, and Roman, and his giddiness died. He stared at the phone that was sat on his lap.

“Patton?” Virgil asked.

Tears began to prick at Patton’s eyes, and he tried to blink them away. This was meant to be Virgil’s moment. He should be happy for him, not feeling jealous that Virgil was able to date the guy he liked.

“It’s nothing,” Patton said.

“It’s _not_ nothing,” Virgil insisted. “Is it about last night?”

Just like that, the floodgates opened. “I was so _sure_ he liked me,” he said, tears falling freely now. “And he- he said he’d _wait_.”

“I’ll kill him for you,” Virgil offered, perhaps a little too quickly.

Patton shook his head, because he didn’t want anything to happen to Roman. It wasn’t Roman’s fault if he’d realised he didn’t like Patton after all, and he’d been too polite to say anything.

“He’s been texting me,” Patton admitted.

Virgil froze beside him. “What did he say?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t read any of them.”

“Delete them.”

Patton didn’t reply.

“He doesn’t deserve your attention.”

“Right,” Patton said hollowly.

It was the same thing that Virgil had said that one summer, when their papa had come back into their lives and then left it just as quickly.

Back then, Virgil had been angry and Remy had been angry and Patton hadn’t been angry – he’d just felt sad. But it had felt like a betrayal, being sad when they were so angry, so he had stopped feeling sad at home, and then had just stopped all together. He didn’t bring up their papa at all, because Virgil didn’t like it.

“Give me your phone,” Virgil said, and Patton handed it over without a word.

Patton stared into space, only distantly aware that Virgil was doing something. Was it so bad, that Patton didn’t feel angry at Roman?

“Here,” Virgil said, pressing the phone back into Patton’s hand. “I deleted them for you.”

The phone was open on his messages app, and Patton saw that there were no messages from Roman, not even the ones that he’d sent before last night. It was as if Roman never existed.

 _You didn’t delete them for me,_ he wanted to say. _I didn’t ask you to do this. You deleted them for you_.

“Look,” Virgil said, “There are plenty of other guys. You don’t need to waste your time on an asshole like him.”

“Right.”

But what if it wasn’t Romans fault? What if Patton had come on too strong, or Roman didn’t like being kissed? Surely Patton should hear him out?

“Pat?” Virgil asked, and Patton realised he’d been staring into space for a while.

“I think I want to lie down for a while,” Patton said.

“Are you good?” Virgil asked, shifting closer as if he was about to take Patton’s temperature.

Patton forced a smile. “I’m fine. I’m just tired, you know?”

“Yeah, okay,” Virgil said, not sounding convinced. “I hope you feel better soon.”

As soon as Virgil was gone, Patton rolled onto his side and unlocked his phone again. There was still one unread message that Virgil hadn’t deleted, and it was from an unknown number.

_i know ur mad at Ro but pls jst tell me ur not dead so hell stop bothering me_

Patton sighed, and typed out a response: _I’m fine!_ Then placed his phone back on his bed stand and stared at the ceiling.

The phone didn’t buzz with a reply, and Patton didn’t know whether he was relieved or disappointed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I promised to get this out on Saturday, but then I ended up having to scrap the half I’d written and start again, whoops.

**Chapter Six**

“Hey, Janus!”

Janus had not had someone call his name in the corridor since middle school, but hearing it still made his heart speed up. He cursed himself internally as he turned around, and then began cursing Roman Prince, who was shouldering his way towards him.

“Roman,” Janus greeted. “Tell me, do you understand the meaning of the word ‘discretion’?”

“What?” Roman asked. Janus rolled his eyes and began walking away.

“I need a favour,” Roman said, easily keeping pace with Janus.

“You already owe me over a hundred dollars,” Janus replied.

“What? No I don’t!”

Janus sighed. “A hundred and five, to be precise. Seventy five for the party, thirty upfront for the next date.”

“You – The party wasn’t a date,” Roman protested.

“By all means Roman, _do_ keep telling me about my own love life.”

“First of all: gross.” Roman pulled a face. “Second of all, why didn’t you ask for the half up front then?”

Because Janus hadn’t known whether Virgil would show up. But that wasn’t the kind of thing you could just admit to the guy paying you. So he decided to cut that line of questioning off right there.

“Why not ask _Patton_ whether it was a date? He was there, after all.”

Roman’s face screwed up in fury. Janus just smiled placidly.

“Something wrong?”

“Fuck you,” Roman spat.

“That costs extra,” Janus shot back.

Roman threw up his hands. “Fine, I’ll pay you the seventy five dollars.”

Janus narrowed his eyes and took a step closer. “Don’t try to cheat me, Roman.”

Roman met his eyes defiantly. “If you want me to keep hiring you, you’ll help me.”

Janus had not gone through the effort of securing a second date just for Roman to flake out on him. “Explain.”

“I’m trying to make things up with Patton,” Roman said. “I screwed up really bad, and-”

Janus help up one hand, and Roman fell silent. “And you need to get back in his good books for this scheme to work.” He sighed. “Fine. But you’ll owe me a favour.”

Roman looked suspicious. “What kind of favour?”

In truth, he’d probably just end up using Roman’s connection to Patton.

“That depends on the size of what you need, doesn’t it?”

“Access to the intercom system,” Roman answered.

“Why would you…? No, don’t tell me, I don’t care.” Janus pulled out his phone, and quickly sent a message. “The room will be empty and unlocked in five minutes. Try not to mess up again.”

Roman looked surprised at the speed which Janus had worked, which was honestly just insulting.

“You might want to hurry,” Janus added.

Roman scowled and then headed back down the corridor. He walked at a normal speed, but Janus had a feeling he was going to start running as soon as he got out of Janus’ sight.

Okay, so maybe Janus _could_ have given Roman longer to get to the office, but then, Roman could have dealt with his problems on his own.

Janus turned a corner, and reached the section of corridor where his locker was. Someone was leaning next to it, and Janus braced himself for more bullshit, until the person looked up, and Janus saw it was Virgil.

“Do I want to know what you keep in here?” Virgil asked, tapping Janus’ locker.

Janus undid the lock and pulled the door open, so that Virgil could see the pile of books inside.

“Well, now I’m disappointed,” Virgil said.

“What were you expecting, severed remains?”

“I don’t know!” Virgil threw his hands up. “Blackmail material?”

Janus shut the locker door, and placed one hand on his heart. “I had no idea you thought so lowly of me,” he said. “I’d never keep anything of value in such an obvious place.”

Virgil snorted. “Where do you keep it then?”

“I’ll have you know I never show a boy my criminal enterprise until the third date,” Janus replied.

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks turning red. “Yeah, about that.” He took a deep breath, and then raised his head so he was looking Janus in the eye. “Go on a date with me?”

Janus’ stomach did a flip. “I thought I’d already asked you that?”

Virgil shrugged. “I pick, right? Seems only fair I ask.”

“I’ll have to check me calendar. I’m so _very_ busy, you know.”

The two of them quickly worked out the specifics – that Janus would go to Virgil’s house after school on Wednesday, and they would go to the date together from there. Virgil assured Janus that Remy would still be at work.

“Oh, and don’t wear anything too nice.”

“What are you planning?” Janus asked.

“It’s a surprise. Just… wear something that you don’t mind getting ruined.”

Janus could think of a few things that matched that description. “Well, now I have to find out.”

The intercom crackled.

“What the hell was that?” Virgil asked, looking around.

 _Good question_ , Janus thought, just as Roman’s singing began to float over them.

Patton had never appreciated the quiet of the library until now.

Logan had insisted they go to the cafeteria to eat, which had surprised Patton so much he’d just gone along with it. But the cafeteria meant _people_ , and Patton felt certain everyone’s eyes were on him. He’d been getting pitying looks all day, and right before he’d met Logan, he’d overheard a girl from his Chemistry class tell her friend how sad it was that Patton didn’t seem to realise no one wanted to date him.

Patton sighed and put his half-eaten sandwich away. Next to him, Logan was glancing nervously around, as if expected to see someone. Patton had a feeling that whoever it was, they weren’t a friend.

“What’s wrong?” Patton asked.

Logan startled, and looked over. That was another thing that was weird; Logan didn’t zone out of conversations. Sure, he could get so absorbed in his work that he probably wouldn’t even notice if he was on fire, but never when they were just talking.

“Sorry, what?” Logan asked.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m… satisfactory.”

Patton had known Logan long enough to not fall for that one. “Just because you’re physically fine, doesn’t mean you’re satisfactory,” he scolded. “Something’s bothering you.”

Logan glanced at the clock on the cafeteria wall, then sighed. “Do you remember-?”

Whatever Logan was about to ask was cut off by a squeal from the intercom system. Patton grimaced at the noise, and Logan’s face closed off completely.

“Forget it,” he said.

Patton shook his head, ignoring whatever the person on the intercom was saying. “Lo-”

“Patton, can you _please_ pay attention to what’s going on?”

Patton looked around the room. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same whilst whispering to each other. Other the intercom, someone was singing.

No, not just someone. _Roman_ was singing.

 _“You’d be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much_ ”

 _Oh,_ Patton realised. _He’s singing about me_.

The doors to cafeteria burst open, and there was Roman, like something out of a movie. He kept singing as he moved through the room. Everyone was watching Roman, but Roman’s eyes were only on Patton.

Roman jumped onto the table for the chorus, earning giggles from the crowd. Patton was smiling so hard it felt like his face was going to burst. His heart fluttered in his chest.

Without realising it, Patton found himself standing, ready to run into Roman’s arms like in a movie scene.

Which, of course, was when two teachers rushed over to usher Roman away.

Patton was frozen in place as Roman was led out of the cafeteria. Right before he left, though, he twisted round and caught Patton’s eye, smiling hopefully. Patton nodded in response.

As soon as the doors to the cafeteria swung shoot, Patton dropped back into his chair.

“I suppose this means everything is fixed,” Logan commented, looking amused.

Patton grinned over at him. “Is this why you wanted us to eat here?”

Logan glanced away. “Remus may have asked me to bring you here.”

Patton squealed and flung his arms around Logan. Logan huffed in response, but still returned the hug.

“I take it that you’re going to be this exuberant all day, then,” Logan commented.

“Probably,” Patton said cheerfully.

Mr Sanders’ reaction to Roman showing up for detention was just to shake his head and wave Roman to a seat.

“Hey,” Roman said, completely unrepentant. “It worked.”

He took the seat closest to the window, so at least he’d be able to look outside. They weren’t even allowed to do homework, so the only thing to do was wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Roman glanced over towards the clock – surely the hour must nearly be up by now?

It had been five minutes.

Roman groaned, and hit his head against the table.

“Dying won’t get you out of this,” Mr Sanders said, and Roman gave him a thumbs up.

“Mr Sanders!”

Roman’s head shot back up. Patton was hovering in the doorway, fiddling with the sleeves of the cardigan he wore around his neck. He caught Roman’s eye, and jerked his head to the side. What he was trying to say, Roman had no idea.

“I, uh, I had a question,” Patton said, and Mr Sanders stepped out into the corridor with him.

Over Mr Sanders’ shoulder, Patton caught Roman’s eye and jerked his head again. This time, he seemed to be gesturing at something behind Roman.

Roman looked out the window, but there was nothing there that caught his eye. He turned back to Patton, who was talking animatedly to Mr Sanders. Roman twisted around again.

They were on the second floor, but there was ledge outside the window that wound its way around the school. And if he made it around the corner, he could use the fire escape to climb down.

Roman glanced out the corridor, where Mr Sanders seemed completely focused on Patton. He slowly got up from his desk. When Mr Sanders didn’t even look around, he crept to the window.

This was almost ending up too easy. That was probably a safety flaw the school should do something about. Roman undid the latch and pushed the window up – only for it to let out a giant _creak_ as it moved.

Roman froze, and glanced over his shoulder. Mr Sanders began to turn around, and Roman contemplated just jumping out of the window there and then. Two stories probably wouldn’t kill him.

“No!” Patton cried out. He grabbed Mr Sanders’ shoulders, holding him in place. “I mean, uh-”

Roman didn’t bother to find out how good of a distraction Patton could provide. He climbed up onto the window sill, and then gingerly placed on foot on the outside ledge. It was only just wide enough for him to stand on, and that was providing that he kept his back to the wall.

Roman slowly climbed out, his hands pressed against the wall to keep his balance. He began to inch his way across the ledge, keeping his gaze up so that he wouldn’t have to see how high he was.

This was fine, he told himself, as he made his way along the side of the building. Why, it was just like something out of a fantasy book; some noble knight climbing out of a tower to save their love.

Of course, the books never went in to much detail about what would happen if the knight fell from the tower and landed on the concrete of the car park below.

He made it to the corner, and managed to edge his way around. Now, all he had to do was climb the railing onto the fire escape, and then go down the iron steps.

Climbing over a something was a lot harder when you couldn’t come at it face on. Instead, he had to twist his body to grab the railing, then swing his right leg around and on top of it. For a moment, his stomach dropped out, until his foot was able to find purchase.

He thanked God that he’d started taking dance lessons seriously over summer, since they were probably the only reason he was able to pull himself up and over.

He landed on the fire escape with a _thud_ , and for a moment just lay there, trying to get over his near-death experience. He was never doing anything that would get him detention again.

After a while, Roman pulled himself back to his feet and climbed down the stairs. He headed to the school entrance, where, sure enough, Patton was waiting. As soon as he saw Roman, he raced over.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” Patton exclaimed.

“My valiant knight,” Roman said. “Saving me from the tortures of detention.”

Patton giggled. “My brave Prince, facing detention to defend my honour.”

“How did you manage to distract Mr Sanders?” Roman asked.

“Oh, uh, I asked him what I thought of my monologue.”

“What monologue?” Roman couldn’t remember anything like that coming up in Drama class.

“The one I made up on the spot,” Patton admitted, and Roman laughed.

“And how did your esteemed teacher react?”

“I think I just confused him,” Patton answered. He glanced around. “We should probably get out of here, though.”

The car park was almost empty by now, with only a few cars belonging to students at extracurriculars left. Remus had already declared that he refused to wait for Roman and would make his own way home, so Patton and Roman went straight to Roman’s car.

“Is your brother waiting for you?” Roman asked.

Patton shook his head. “I told him I was getting a lift with a friend.”

Roman let out a sigh of relief. After their encounter on Friday, he’d been doing his best to stay out of Virgil’s way. Not that he was _scared_ of him or anything – he just didn’t want to upset Patton by getting into a fight with his brother.

They reached Roman’s car far too soon.

“I, uh, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Patton said.

Roman swallowed down his nerves. “Wait. I owe you an apology.”

“You don’t have to apologise,” Patton said. He hugged his arms close to his body. “It’s okay if you don’t want to kiss me.”

“Don’t want to-? Patton, I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment we met.”

“Then… why didn’t you?” Patton asked.

Roman sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He really had messed up. “Did you read my texts?”

Patton shook his head. “They, uh, they got deleted.”

Well, Roman had known Patton was upset. “You were drunk,” he explained. “I _do_ want to kiss you, but only if you want me too, and not just because you’re drunk.”

“Well, I’m not drunk now,” Patton said.

Roman laughed. “I should hope not.”

“And I want you to kiss me,” Patton added.

Roman swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “Oh.”

He took a step forward, and tilted Patton’s chin up with one hand. Patton’s lips parted slightly.

“Can I?” Roman asked, and Patton nodded.

The kiss was brief. Patton stayed still as Roman leaned in to it, and Roman could taste the Chapstick on his lips. When he drew back, his own lips were buzzing.

“Oh,” Patton said quietly.

“Is that a good oh?” Roman asked.

He’d only kissed a boy once before, back in freshman year. Then there had been the girl that he’d kissed for a play, but he’d quickly decided that that didn’t count.

“Very good,” Patton said.

Roman brushed a strand of hair away from Patton’s face. “Does that mean I’m forgiven?”

“Are you always going to apologise like that?” Patton asked.

“I never want to have to apologise to you again.”

Patton blushed, and then grabbed Roman’s hand.

“Don’t go home,” he said. “Not yet.”

Roman raised an eyebrow. “You want to stay here?”

“No,” Patton said. “I mean, let’s go somewhere else.”

“Why, Patton,” Roman asked, “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Why, Roman,” Patton replied. “I think I am.”

The autumn sun was already on its way down, turning the air around them golden. Roman crossed to the passenger side of the car, and pulled open the door.

“Well then, my dear,” he said. “Your carriage awaits.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Better late than never, right?
> 
> Hopefully I won’t have as many more delays in the future, but in other news, we’re halfway through! (According to my outline, at least) I’m really excited about getting into the second half, which has a lot of fun things in it!

Remus meandered along the school corridors in the hopes that someone would see him, take pity on him, and offer him a lift home. So far, his plan wasn’t bearing much fruit.

With Roman in detention for hacking the schools intercom system (not that it counted as hacking if it was left alone in an unlocked room) Remus was forced to either wait around for an hour or make his own way home. Waiting around meant boredom, but going home meant _walking_ , which was only slightly better.

He turned a corner, and grinned when he spotted Logan talking to a guy Remus didn’t really know. At least Logan might offer some entertainment – he was fun to wind up, and, best of all, never seemed to take his antics too seriously. Well, other than when Remus deliberately got science wrong.

Remus waved, but Logan didn’t notice. The other guy was leaning close to him, saying something, and Logan had his head down, his shoulders hunched. Remus faltered. Clearly, only one person was happy to be having that conversation.

The guy laughed, and shoved Logan, hard enough to make him stagger back a step. Rage twisted up in Remus’ gut, and he strode forward, but the guy was already walking away.

“Hey!” Remus shouted. The guy didn’t look back, just disappeared through the doors that led out of the school.

Remus began to follow, but Logan’s hand caught his arm, freezing him in place.

“Leave it,” Logan said.

Remus frowned, turning to Logan. “Who the hell was that?”

“That was Jake,” Logan said, sounding resigned. He began walking out of the school, and Remus followed him.

“What did he want?” Remus asked.

“Nothing.”

“He was clearly messing with you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit,” Remus snapped, grabbing Logan’s arm and holding him in place. “C’mon, Lo, tell me what’s going on.”

“Why?” Logan snapped. “So you can join him in making my life miserable?”

Remus dropped Logan’s arm and took a step back. “Logan, that’s not -”

“Of course not,” Logan said before Remus could figure out how he was going to end the sentence. He shook his head. “I have work to do.”

Remus watched Logan walk away, frozen in place. Something was definitely wrong, but Remus didn’t know what to do about it. How did you make someone feel better?

He could go beat up Jake. Remus spun on his heel, and marched to the car park.

 _You’ll get suspended_ , a voice that sounded suspiciously like Logan warned. Remus ignored it. Who cared if he got suspended? It would get the dude off of Logan’s back. It might even make everyone else think twice before messing with Logan.

Remus arrived at the car park just in time to see Jake get into a shiny new car and drive away. Remus scowled; so goes that idea.

He could still fight the guy tomorrow, but it wouldn’t feel the same. He wanted a way to cheer Logan up _now_. Make it so that Logan wasn’t bothered about Jake and his shitty, perfect car.

Huh. That gave Remus an idea. Sure, beating him up might be off the table for now, but there were other ways to get revenge. Ways that would probably make Logan feel better, too.

Smiling to himself, Remus began walking away from school. He’d need to go on a recon mission around the neighbourhood, and then visit Logan when it got dark, but first, he was going to the grocery store.

The date was perfect.

Roman had driven them to the park, where they had walked hand in hand. When they got to the lake, Patton noticed Swan boats and mentioned that he’s always wanted to go on one. So Roman had decided that the best time to try it was right there and then, even though the sun was setting.

They stayed on the lake until it got dark, when they went back to shore and Roman drove Patton home. Patton wished the day wouldn’t end – everything felt so magical, that he was scared it would disappear at any moment.

They pulled into Patton’s driveway far too soon.

Roman insisted on opening Patton’s door for him, and then walking him up to the house.

“I’ll see you at school then,” Roman said when they were standing on the porch.

Patton nodded. He opened his mouth to say something – to ask Roman to kiss him again – when the door slammed open, making both of them jump. Virgil stood in the doorway, looking furious.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Virgil snarled.

Roman stiffened. “I was just taking Patton home.”

“I told you to leave him alone!”

Patton moved between the two of them. “Virgil, stop. It was just a misunderstanding.”

“I don’t care! You said you weren’t going to waste your time on him!” Virgil said accusingly.

“No, I didn’t,” Patton protested. “You did.”

“And you agreed!”

Patton said nothing, and Virgil narrowed his eyes.

“You _did_ agree,” Virgil said.

Patton hugged his arms close to his body. “Virgil, can we talk about this later?”

Virgil glanced between Patton and Roman, and then shook his head. “Fine,” he said dully. “Do what you want.”

“Virgil, that’s not-” Patton began, but Virgil was already going inside. The door shut between them.

“Well,” Roman said lightly. “He’s a real charmer.”

“He’s a good person,” Patton said. “He just… worries about me. You must feel the same way about Remus.”

“Sometimes,” Roman said. “But Remus can look after himself. And so can you.”

Patton tried to smile. He wished Roman hadn’t had to see that. He reached out and grabbed Roman’s hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You don’t need to apologise for your brother,” Roman said. “Trust me, I get it.”

Patton smiled. He wasn’t sure what to say, so he just stared down at their entwined hands. He ran his thumb over Roman’s hand.

“Are you okay?” Roman asked.

“Of course,” Patton said, as cheerfully as he could manage. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“If you’re sure,” Roman said, but he sounded doubtful.

“I _am_ sure,” Patton asserted. “I had a really good time today.”

“Me too.”

“I should get inside,” Patton said. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“And every day after that,” Roman said, making Patton giggle.

Despite what he’d said, Patton stayed on the porch until Roman had gotten into his car and driven away. Only when the car had fully disappeared did he go inside.

By the time he did, Virgil was hidden in his room.

Logan was unable to focus. The very idea should be absurd – Logan prided himself on his attentiveness to his studies. And yet, every time he tried to solve the maths problems in front of him, his mind kept wandering.

Jake had been a metaphorical thorn in Logan’s side for years, though he had not caused problems for a while. Apparently, Jake had been bored today, because he had decided he had nothing better to do than harass Logan. It had made Logan reluctant to go to the cafeteria when Remus had asked – an irrational fear, as Jake could very well find him anywhere in the school.

A knock sounded at the door, but Logan ignored it. Patton was with Roman, so there was no chance that whoever it was at the door was there to see him. Instead, he tried to focus on his work, only to realise that he’d forgotten what the problem was, and had to reread it again.

This wasn’t right! Logan had never had this problem before, and now that he did, it was because of _Jake_? Someone who would likely amount to nothing after graduation? Normally, Logan would be completely unaffected, even as Patton rushed to comfort him.

The thought of Patton made something twist in his gut. Another irrational thing; Logan was not entitled to Patton’s time, and so had no reason to be upset that Patton wasn’t there. Surely, Jake’s teasing on how Patton had found a new boyfriend (in this scenario, Logan was apparently Patton’s previous boyfriend, despite never having romantic feelings for him) couldn’t have gotten to him.

“Logan!” his mother, Martha, called.

“I’m busy,” he called back, because he didn’t need another distraction when his head was already providing one.

“You have a guest.”

Logan frowned, and made his way out of his room. If Patton was here, that would imply something had gone wrong between him and Roman, which meant that Logan would need to have a conversation with Roman about the consequences of him hurting Patton.

But then, if Patton was here, his mother would have just said that.

“Who is it?” his other mother, Amy, asked, poking her head out of the office.

“I don’t know yet,” Logan pointed out. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

Amy had decided that this year she was going to write the book she was working on _for sure_. This was a process that involved very little actual writing, and a great deal of seeking out distractions. It led to a mother who was suddenly fascinated by everything Logan did.

Amy pouted. “Isn’t say that meant to be my job?”

Logan just fixed her with a stare.

Amy rolled her eyes dramatically. “You’re not me real dad,” she declared, before slinking back into her office. She left the door open.

Logan continued down stairs, but he only made it halfway down the staircase before freezing, because Remus Prince was standing in the hallway, talking to his mother.

Remus spotted him and waved with one hand – the other hand, Logan noticed, was carrying a shopping bag. Martha turned and smiled.

“There you are,” she said. “Sorry about the wait, he’s an extremely rebellious child.”

“One day someone will believe you when you say that,” Logan said as he walked down the final steps.

“Not if they’ve spent five seconds around you, they won’t,” Martha shot back. She touched one hand to Logan’s hair in a display of affection, before gliding back to the living room.

“You have two mums?” Remus asked. Of course, he had seen Amy when she had picked him up from the party.

“Yes. Surely I’ve mentioned it before?”

Remus shrugged, fiddling with the handle of the bag. “Probably. I don’t always pay attention that well.”

“Pardon my abruptness,” Logan said, “But what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to torment you, obviously,” Remus said.

It was meant as a joke, like many of Remus’ statements were, but Logan could see the defensive curl to his shoulders. Logan grimaced when he thought back on what he had said earlier.

“I apologise for how I acted,” Logan said. “You are nothing like Jake.”

“Yeah, I hope not,” Remus said. “What’d he do?”

“The details are irrelevant. Suffice to say we have been rivals for a while now.”

“Seems kinda one sided for rivals. What happened, he get mad you did better at him on a test?”

“That would require him to be mad at the whole school,” Logan said drily, and Remus snorted. “No, he takes issue with me choice of friends. Or, more accurately, with Patton’s choice of friends.”

“He’s mad you stole his bestie?”

Logan nodded, and Remus groaned. “Ugh, that’s so _boring_.”

Logan fought down a smile. “What were you hoping for?”

“Drama! Betrayal! An illicit love affair!”

He was unable to stop the smile now, though he was able to smother it as much as possible. Why on earth did he find Remus’ antics amusing, when by all rights he should be infuriated by them.

Well, he normally was infuriated by them. He just also found them amusing.

“Still,” Remus said, “We have to do something.”

“About what?” Logan asked.

“Jake! He doesn’t get to just mess with you!”

Logan shook his head. “There’s nothing to be done. He doesn’t constitute a big enough problem for the school to step in.”

“That’s why we’re not asking the school.” Remus grabbed Logan’s arm. “C’mon.”

“I have homework,” Logan objected.

“Well, I’m kidnapping you, so there,” Remus said.

Logan sighed. “Mum,” he called. “I’m being kidnapped.”

“Let us know if you’ll be staying out late,” Martha called back.

Logan shook his head as he let Remus drag him out of the house. “What exactly is the purpose of this?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Remus asked. He held up the shopping bag. “Revenge, my dear Watson.”

Dinner was an awkward affair, with both brothers eating in silence, despite Remy’s attempts to initiate conversation. Virgil fled back upstairs as soon as he was able to, and Patton wanted nothing more to follow him.

“Okay,” Remy said. “What happened?”

Patton swallowed uncertainly. “What do you mean?”

Remy fixed Patton with a stare. “Don’t play dumb, Pat. Since when are you and Virgil fighting?”

Patton sighed. “Something happened, and, uh, Virgil and I disagree on it.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing bad,” Patton quickly assured him. “At least, _I_ don’t think it’s bad.”

“That’s not as reassuring as you think it is,” Remy remarked. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“I know,” Patton said. “And I’m going to – I was always going to, it’s just…”

“Hey.” Remy placed a hand on Patton’s shoulder. “If you really don’t want to talk about it now, you don’t have to.”

It wasn’t something Remy had offered before. Normally, he would push harder, worried about what could possibly be so bad.

“No, I want to,” Patton said, and it was suddenly true. “Do you remember when I was talking about Roman?”

Remy looked confused, before his face morphed into resignation. “I think I can see where this is going.”

“Virgil is dating Janus now,” Patton said. “He told me. Which means that _I’m_ allowed to date now, too.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Remy said, waving a hand. “When did both my sons turn into Casanova’s? Fine, I guess you can go on a date with him.”

“Oh,” Patton said. “Actually, uh-“

“You already went on one, didn’t you?” guessed Remy, who was well experienced with the tactic of doing something before your parents could ban you.

Patton, at least, looked sheepish when he nodded, something that Remy never had.

“Wait,” Remy said. “Let me get this straight – you and Virgil are fighting over a _boy_?”

Patton sighed, and nodded. Somehow, he ended up spilling the whole story – or at least, an abridged version of it, leaving out the amount of alcohol he’d drank on Friday.

“Virgil doesn’t trust him,” Patton said. “But Virgil doesn’t even _know_ him.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I don’t trust Virgil’s boyfriend either.”

It didn’t make Patton feel better.

“That’s just it,” he complained. “I’m happy for Virgil, why can’t he be happy for me?”

“He is happy, probably,” Remy said. “He just worries about you. We both do.”

“But I don’t _want_ to be worried about. I like Roman, isn’t that enough?”

“I wish it was,” Remy said ruefully. “Look, Virge will come round. You know how he gets about change.”

“I guess,” Patton said with a sigh.

Still, it felt _wrong_ , not having his big brother to gush to.

“Okay, jeez, I won’t call you Watson again,” Remus said when Logan paused for breath. “I didn’t realise you took Sherlock Holmes so seriously.”

“I take insults to my character seriously,” Logan said. He frowned and looked around, noticing their surroundings for the first time. “Where are we?”

It was night now, with only the streetlights illuminating the quiet, residential street they were standing on. They were by a fence between two perfectly normal houses, out of sight from the windows.

“You don’t recognise it?” Remus asked. “Look at the car.”

Logan squinted at the two cars parked in the driveway. One of them looked familiar, but it took him a moment to realise that he’d seen it at school, and another one to realise who he’d seen driving it.

“Remus is – is this Jake’s house?”

“Yep,” Remus said, reaching into the bag.

“Why are we at Jake’s house? How do you even know where he lives?”

“To answer your second question, I know a guy who knows a guy. And for the first one,” – Remus pushed a carton of eggs into Logan’s hands – “We’re here for revenge.”

Logan stared at the carton, then back at the car, which Remus was moving closer to. He realised what Remus was suggested in a sudden rush.

“Absolutely not,” he hissed.

“C’mon, aren’t you mad about everything he’s done?”

“That doesn’t mean we should _egg his car_.”

“Do you have a better solution? One that will actually work?” Remus challenged.

“I fail to see how _this_ solution will do help.”

“It helps because it’ll make you feel better.”

Logan stared at the eggs. It was normally Patton that made him feel better, but he’d almost never had that. Jake had tried to drive them apart, telling Logan that Patton didn’t really want him around, that he just felt bad for Logan. Barely aware of what he was doing, he took an egg out of the carton. When he looked back up, Remus was watching him, face earnest.

It would have been easy to dismiss Remus as just wanting to cause trouble, but if that was the case, he would have started throwing eggs by now. He really was there just for Logan’s sake.

Logan threw the egg.

Remus whooped as the egg went _splat_ against the car’s windshield, and Logan felt a rush of exhilaration.

Remus quickly tossed his own egg, which hit the passenger door. Logan grabbed the next one without think about it. It was like a dam had broken, and now all of Logan’s frustrations came flooding out. He kept throwing eggs, and Remus cheered whenever one hit the car.

The car alarm went off, shocking Logan into stillness. What had he just done? The car was now a runny, goopy mess.

Remus didn’t stay still. He grabbed Logan’s arm and shouted, “Run!” just as a window opened.

The remaining eggs dropped from Logan’s hand as they raced down the street. He could hear the sound of someone shouting behind him, but Remus kept a grip on his arm, pulling him when Logan became out of breath.

Eventually, Remus decided that they were far enough away, and came to a stop. Logan crouched on the ground, gasping for breath.

“We lost them,” Remus said proudly.

“That,” Logan said between pants, “Was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done.”

“Worth it, though.”

Logan nodded, unable to speak. When he finally caught his breath and looked up again, Remus was staring at him.

“What?”

Remus blinked, seeming to come out of a daze. “Nothing, it’s just – you’re smiling.”

“Oh.” Logan was suddenly aware of the grin that threatened to split his face in two.

Remus smiled, and sat down next to Logan.

Remus had figured out that something was wrong with Logan, and then figured out _what_ was wrong. He’d gone out of his way to help Logan, albeit using a rather chaotic method. And for what? The only thing that seemed to have come out of it was that Logan felt better.

“Remus?” Logan asked.

“Hm?” Remus didn’t turn his head. The half-light shone eerily on his features, like someone in an old horror movie.

“Are we friends?”

It was a foolish thing to ask. Surely, Logan should _know_ who his friends were. If he had to ask, wouldn’t that imply that they _weren’t_ friends?

Remus didn’t seem to take offense, though. He just smiled. “I don’t do this for every guy I tutor.”

“I’m the only person you tutor,” Logan said drily. “But thanks. I… consider you a friend, too.”

Strangely enough, Remus’ smile looked brittle after Logan said that. It must have been a trick of the light though, because when Remus spoke it was with his usual irreverent tone. “Well, you’re stuck with me now, Calculator Watch.”

Logan could imagine worse people to be stuck with.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I’m back! Thanks all of you for your patience with my break, I feel a lot more enthusiastic about this after some time away.

Roman had evidently learned some measure of subtlety in the last couple of days, because this time he asked to meet in a secluded part of the school where no one was likely to see them.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Janus asked, leaning against the wall.

Roman was grinning widely, and bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. It was rather sickening to watch.

“Patton and I are dating,” he said.

“Really?” Janus asked.

Roman nodded. “Yeah. At lunch on Monday I-”

“This is certainly news to me. The two of you aren’t obvious at all.”

Roman scowled. “We aren’t that bad, _Lies and Dolls_.”

“You loudly pronounced your love to him _this morning_. Is there a point to this?”

“Okay, first of all: How do you even know that? And second of all the _point_ is that the scheme worked.”

Which meant that there was no use for it any more. The thought was not a comforting one.

“I don’t give refunds,” Janus said. Roman looked confused. “For the date tonight.”

“Yeah, I figured. You should probably go anyway, cancelling would be a dick move. Then just… I don’t know, let him down gently or something?”

Well, _that_ had always been the plan. There was no need for him to be _mean_ about it. Even so, there was only so nice you could be. Virgil would still be upset, though he would try to hide it.

And Janus would stop getting paid.

“I could,” Janus said, slowly, a plan forming in his head. “But that won’t work out in your best interest.”

Roman narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it. Imagine your boyfriend broke up with you, right after Remus suddenly starting seeing someone. An act that was conditional on _you_ dating.”

“I wouldn’t suspect _this_!” Roman protested.

No, Janus thought, he probably wouldn’t. “Perhaps not, but Virgil is the suspicious type, wouldn’t you agree? And what happens if he decides to tell Patton about his suspicions?”

“Well, then what are you suggesting?”

Janus smiled internally. “Simple: we keep up the pretence. Give it a few weeks, and then I’ll find a reason to end things, and Virgil and Patton will be none the wiser.”

Roman looked torn. “I don’t know, won’t stringing him along just make it worse when you end it?”

“Worse than him knowing it was fake the entire time?”

Roman didn’t reply.

“If you wanted your conscious clear you would come clean to them,” Janus continued. “You just don’t want to think about what we’re doing. So don’t look. Let me handle everything; all you need to worry about is the money.”

He was so close now, Janus could feel it. All he needed was to give Roman the final push.

“No one needs to get hurt. _Patton_ doesn’t need to get hurt.”

He could pinpoint the moment Roman decided; his shoulders slumped, facial expression turned defeated.

“Fine,” Roman said. “Do what you want.”

“Oh, Roman,” Janus said as he began to walk away. “I always do.”

“Maybe I should cancel,” Virgil said.

He was rummaging through his drawers for his old black hoodie. Patton was perched on his bed, watching. Janus had refused to dress anything less than perfect at school, so he’d gone home to get changed. Virgil supposed he should probably pick Janus up, then, but Janus had insisted on meeting at Virgil’s house.

“You’re not allowed to cancel,” Patton said.

The morning after the fight, Patton had smiled at Virgil at breakfast, and then began to talk about school, not mentioning Roman, and Virgil had gone along with it.

They continued to not mention Roman for the rest of the day, and the day after. And Virgil had been too busy thinking about his date to even attempt to bring it up.

“This was a terrible idea. He’s going to figure out a weirdo and then hate me forever.”

“He won’t hate you.”

Virgil snorted. “How do you know? He’s Janus, who knows how he thinks?”

“You really care about how this goes, don’t you?” Patton asked softly.

“I mean, yeah.” Virgil tugged at the hem of his t-shirt. “It’s a date. Doesn’t everyone care about how dates go?”

“Probably. But most people aren’t going out with _Janus Verona_.”

Virgil frowned. “You don’t like him?”

“Isn’t that what brothers do?” Patton asked, slightly bitterly.

Virgil grimaced. “Look, Patton-”

“Anyway!” said Patton, his voice too light. “You have a date to get ready for.”

“I don’t think there’s much more getting ready than this,” Virgil pointed out. “Patton-“

The doorbell rang before Virgil could say more. Patton leaped off the bed excitedly.

“That’s him!”

“Patton,” Virgil repeated, but Patton just shook his head.

“You’re going to miss you’re date. _Go_.”

“We’ll talk later,” Virgil said.

“Well of course! I want to hear all about it.”

That wasn’t what Virgil meant, but he didn’t bother arguing. He let Patton usher him out of his room, and to the front door.

Janus was dressed in sweatpants and a faded band t-shirt. It was so different from his usual, perfect appearance, that Virgil couldn’t help staring.

“Surprised?” Janus asked.

“Kind of, yeah,” Virgil admitted. “I didn’t think you could dress less extra.”

“No one will ever believe you,” Janus said, and Virgil laughed.

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me where we’re going?” Janus asked once they were in Virgil’s car.

“It’s a surprise.”

“What if I were to bribe you?”

Virgil glanced over at Janus. “What would you bribe me with?”

“How about a kiss?”

Virgil’s heart stuttered in a way that probably meant he was about to have a heart attack, but for once he wasn’t worried. “You know,” he said, trying to be light, “If you keep flirting I might crash the car.”

Janus _hmmed_. “And I would so hate to miss our date. Very well, what should we talk about instead?”

Virgil considered. “How many of the rumours about you are true?”

He’d been wondering it for a while. Pretty much since they first spoke, and Janus had acted… well, not terrible.

“Very few,” Janus said. “How many of the rumours about _you_ are true?”

“There are rumours about me?”

“You lurk at the back of classrooms and never talk to anyone. Occasionally you act rather menacing to certain individuals. Of course there are rumours about you.”

Virgil spent his time at school trying to not attract attention. Apparently, that had worked. He grimaced at the thought.

“I only act ‘menacing’ when I have to.”

Like when someone tried to take advantage of Patton. Or when someone invited Patton to a part and then broke his heart.

“I wasn’t judging,” Janus said. “I find fear can be a very good protection. What rumours were you wondering about?”

The change of subject was welcome, and Virgil wondered if Janus had done it deliberately, if he’d somehow picked up on how uncomfortable Virgil was.

“Did you really blackmail the principal?”

“Oh, you heard that,” Janus sounded pleased. “I actually made that one up myself.”

“Why?”

“Like I said, fear can be a very good protection. Any others?”

Virgil considered this. He’d never actually payed much attention to the rumours before he’d spoken to Janus. Virgil knew enough to keep away from him, and it always seemed impossible that someone like Virgil would catch his attention.

But that didn’t mean he hadn’t heard about them, and most of the things he heard came from a single source.

“Luc Edwards,” Virgil said at last.

“What about him?” Janus asked.

“He says you’re a monster.”

“Yes, I know,” Janus said. “It’s hardly a new development.”

“What happened between you two?”

Janus was quiet for a while. Long enough that Virgil began to panic, thinking he’d over stepped a line. He should probably apologise now, before Janus told him to shut up.

“I revealed something Luc wanted kept secret,” Janus answered.

“That’s kind of a cryptic answer,” Virgil pointed out.

“Maybe so.”

Virgil considered whether he should keep digging, when he spotted a large sign. He pulled off the road and into the parking lot.

“Paintballing?” Janus asked.

Virgil chewed his lip. “Yeah. Is that a problem? Because we could always do something else.”

“Not at all,” Janus said. “I was just trying to figure out if I should go easy on you.”

Virgil grinned. “Oh, it is _on_.”

When people said to beware the quiet ones, they were talking specifically about Virgil Foster and paintballing. It wasn’t that Virgil was faster than Janus, or even that he had better aim. No, Virgil was _sneaky_.

His tactics were to find somewhere to hide (usually on top of something he probably wasn’t meant to climb on), wait for Janus to go by, and then ambush him and run off before Janus had even realised what had happened.

“How are you so good at this?” Janus complained to thin air.

Someone sniggered behind him, and Janus spun around to see Virgil perched on some bales of hay that had been piled up. While Janus was covered in paint, Virgil appeared mostly clean.

“Pure talent,” Virgil said. “Are you ready to concede defeat yet?”

“Oh, I never concede defeat,” Janus said, and he fired his gun.

Virgil shrieked as a paintball hit him in the chest, _finally_ , and ducked back behind cover. Janus charged forwards. He turned the corner and fired without looking at when he knew Virgil was hiding. It was only when he came to a stop that he realised no one was there.

Something hit Janus from behind. He spun around, and there was Virgil, grinning at him. His gun was still pointed at Janus’ chest.

“Well,” Janus said. “It appears you have me at your mercy.”

“Really?” Virgil said, stepping closer. “Because I feel like you’re planning on shooting me.”

“There is nothing I’d like more,” Janus said, crossing the distance between them.

Virgil lowered his gun as Janus came forwards, so they were standing almost chest to chest. Without quite meaning to, Janus laid his hand against Virgil’s cheek. This close, he could hear Virgil’s breath hitch.

“Do it,” Virgil said, and Janus pressed his lips to Virgil’s.

Virgil’s lips parted immediately, deepening the kiss. Janus let the paintball gun drop from his hand so that he could bring it up to rest on Virgil’s shoulder. Far too soon, Virgil gently pulled away.

Janus could only watch, dazed, as Virgil’s look shifted to one of mischief.

Something splashed against Janus’ chest. Virgil had hit him with a paintball.

Laughing, Virgil darted away. Janus didn’t bother with his gun, just chased after him instead. He tackled Virgil into a pile of hay that Virgil had hidden in earlier in the game. Virgil laughed and struggled out of Janus’ grip, knocking Janus onto his back. He flopped down next to him, so they were lying shoulder to shoulder.

“Tell me something true,” Virgil said.

“You’re amazing,” Janus said without thinking.

Virgil began to turn red. “Stop,” he said, smacking Janus lightly on the arm.

“You’re the one that wanted to hear it,” Janus pointed out.

“I said true, not flattering.”

“Can’t something be both?”

Janus leaned in for another kiss, which Virgil received eagerly. “You’re amazing,” he repeated, and the strange thing was he meant it.

“You’re not bad,” Virgil said, and then laughed at Janus’ expression.

A buzzer sounded, letting them know that their time was up. Janus got to his feet and held out a hand to help Virgil.

“No, but seriously,” Virgil said as they walked back to the entrance. “You’re amazing too.”

It was only later, when Janus had said goodbye to Virgil and was on his way back home, that he remembered that none of it was real.


	9. Chapter 9

Two days after their date, Virgil sat next to Janus in the cafeteria for the first time. He managed to stay there for a whole five minutes before the feeling of everyone’s eyes watching them got to him. Janus had asked if he wanted to go somewhere quieter, and then showed him a staircase that led only to a locked door; the boiler room, according to Janus.

“How do you even know about this place?” Virgil had asked.

“I was born knowing everything about the school,” Janus had replied. “I certainly didn’t find it when looking for good places to eavesdrop on people.”

In the weeks that followed, Virgil spent most of his lunches with Janus, either in the cafeteria or their staircase. He never missed his friends, and he had a feeling that they didn’t miss him, either.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, Virgil managed to brave the cafeteria. The school must have gotten used to him by now, because only a few people ever glanced their way. It didn’t stop the prickling feeling against his skin, as he imagined everyone whispering about the two of them.

“Wonderful,” Janus scoffed, pulling Virgil out of his thoughts.

Janus was looking at the doors to the cafeteria, where a girl was hanging up a poster reminding everyone that the Winter Ball was less than two weeks away.

“Considering the dance happens every year,” Janus said, “You’d think they’d realise we’re not stupid enough to need reminding.”

“Yeah, well, they probably need to drum up attention,” Virgil said.

“As if. Give people a chance to dress up and show off and they’ll jump on it ever time.”

“Like what you do every day?” Virgil joked.

Janus spluttered. “That is not- I have _style_. And _I_ haven’t been brainwashed to think that the greatest thing I could achieve is a decent sexual partner.”

Virgil began to head to English as Janus followed, continuing to explain every way in which school dances are a scam designed to get high schoolers to spend money or something. Virgil wasn’t really paying much attention.

He’d never gone to a school dance before. He’d never had anyone to go with, so what was the point? If he was going to stand around feeling miserable, he could do that at home, where it was quieter.

If he’d known Janus before, maybe it would have been so bad. They could just find somewhere to sit and make fun of people. And even if Janus did want to dance, well, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.

They were almost at the English classroom, when Janus suddenly stopped talking, and narrowed his eyes at Virgil.

Virgil felt his shoulders hunch up defensively on instinct. “What?” he asked.

“You didn’t join in,” Janus said, slowly. “You never let me monologue.”

Crap, did Janus think he’d been ignoring him? Worse, he kind of _had_ been ignoring him.

“Sorry,” Virgil said. “I zoned out.”

Janus hummed. “That doesn’t have anything to do with the subject matter, does it?”

Virgil felt his cheeks go red, even though Janus wasn’t actually accusing him of anything. He ducked into the classroom to avoid having to reply.

“Really, Virgil, if you were interested, you could have just said something.”

“I’m not!” Virgil said. “I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t.” Janus followed Virgil over to his desk. Most of the other students were filing in to the classroom, which meant Virgil only had to distract Janus for a couple more minutes before class began.

Though, knowing Janus, he’d probably just pick up the conversation as soon as class was over.

“Fine, I was thinking about it,” Virgil admitted. “Doesn’t mean I want to go. I think about a lot of things.”

Janus didn’t look convinced, but eventually he nodded. “Fine, if you’re certain.”

“I am,” Virgil lied.

Janus nodded, and went to his seat. Virgil sighed, and pulled out his notebooks. Time to spend the whole hour avoiding Mr Williams’ attention.

They’d moved on to studying the sonnets, now. Virgil hadn’t actually hated it as much as he thought he would. He’d actually enjoyed some of it. He’d even been able to give an answer to a question that Mr Williams wasn’t able to make fun of, though he did eye Virgil suspiciously as if Virgil had somehow cheated.

“Each of you will produce a sonnet,” Mr Williams announced, and Virgil sat up straighter. “It must follow the standard rules for sonnets. Which, before you ask, means it has to rhyme.”

Virgil flipped to a new page in his notebook, already thinking about what he could do. Finally, an assignment that was actually interesting. He jotted down a couple of ideas as Mr Williams continued to talk about the assignment.

“Mr Foster,” Mr Williams said suddenly, and Virgil jerked his head up. Mr Williams was frowning at him. Great. What had he done now?

“Do you understand the assignment?” Mr Williams asked.

Virgil glanced at Janus and met his eyes. It was enough to make him feel slightly better.

“Actually,” he said, “I had a question.”

Mr Williams looked satisfied. “Oh? Well, perhaps if you were paying more attention you’d know what the assignment was.”

“Did you want the sonnet in iambic pentameter?”

Mr Williams stopped, and frowned. “Very funny,” he snapped after a moment, before returning to his teaching.

Well, he hadn’t gotten mocked for it. And, judging by that reaction, he assumed the iambic pentameter was not necessary. Still, with Janus looking impressed, it felt like a victory.

Once school had ended, Roman Prince was stood hidden behind a corner near Patton’s locker, waiting for Patton to come closer.

“This is going to be so good,” he whispered.

“What if he’s allergic to flowers?” Remus asked.

Roman froze, and then his face filled with horror. “Oh, God, I didn’t think about that. This was a terrible idea. We have to take it down!”

“Too late,” Remus sing-songed.

Sure enough, Patton had walked into the corridor with Logan at his side. He stopped and stared at his locker, the door of which had been covered with flowers.

“Well,” Logan said. “I think I can hazard a guess as to who was responsible for this.”

Remus snorted. Roman screwed his courage to the sticking place and stepped out into the corridor. Patton and Logan had their backs to him, staring at the locker, so Roman cleared his throat. Patton spun around, and his eyes lit up as soon as he saw Roman.

“What do you think?” Roman asked.

He’d barely finished the question before Patton was moving, throwing himself into Roman’s arms. Roman caught him and hugged him, smiling. Patton kissed Roman on the cheek.

“They’re beautiful,” Patton said. “Thank you.”

Roman leaned down, and pulled Patton into a deep kiss. Behind the two love birds, Remus slunk over to where Logan was watching them.

“This is going to take forever,” he said. “Walk me to my car?”

“It’s Roman’s car,” Logan corrected, though he still followed, lips twitching in the barest hint of a smile.

Roman and Patton finally pulled out of their kiss, Roman stroking his thumb along Patton’s cheek.

“I wasn’t planning on kissing you just yet,” Roman admitted. “That was meant to be the finale.”

“Finale to what?”

Roman took a deep breath, and then dropped to one knee. Patton giggled.

“Patton Foster,” Roman said, “Would you do the honour of going to the Winter Dance with me?”

“Oh, of course I will!” Patton replied.

After that, there was more kissing, so Roman got the finale he’d planned. By the time the two of them walked to the parking lot, Virgil was already waiting by Patton’s car. He wasn’t alone. Janus Verona stood next to him, saying something. Whatever it was, Virgil laughed.

“He seems so happy,” Patton murmured.

“Who, Virgil?”

Patton nodded. “I was worried when Janus started talking to him. But Virgil has never acted like this before.” He took Roman’s hand and leaned against him. “Guess it must be love.”

Roman looked away. “Right,” he said. “Love.”

Patton frowned, and looked over at him. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Roman said quickly. “I just, uh, remembered Remus is probably waiting for me! I should go before he decides to start a fire.”

Patton didn’t look convinced, probably because Roman had always been happy to make Remus wait in the past, but he just smiled and said goodbye. Across the parking lot, Virgil must have noticed Patton, because he was saying goodbye to Janus, too.

Roman looked away quickly and hurried to find Remus. Seeing Virgil and Janus together made something twist uncomfortably in his gut.

Virgil didn’t leave Roman’s head for the rest of the night. Roman didn’t even like the guy, but every time he closed his eyes, he kept imagining Virgil, broken hearted at the end of it all. And fine, Virgil was a dick, but that didn’t mean he deserved _that_.

Remus was strangely quiet whenever Roman was around, until right before they went to bed, when he told him that if Patton hadn’t wanted to go to the dance with him that made Patton an idiot. Roman just shook his head, and told Remus that everything was fine, which just made him more confused.

It wasn’t like he could talk to Remus about the Virgil problem; Remus probably wouldn’t even see the issue. And there was nobody else who knew about the deal. So it was just up to him, lying awake in his bedroom. And, when he thought about it, there was only one obvious solution.

So the next day, Roman grabbed Janus’ arm and pulled him to the side of the corridor. Janus went along with it, an indulgent look on his face.

“We need to end this,” Roman whispered.

Janus sighed. “We discussed this,” he said, as if he was talking to a child. “Ending it too soon will just arouse suspicion.”

“I don’t buy it,” Roman snapped. “It’s been weeks. Why would Virgil be suspicious now?”

“And if you’re wrong?”

If Roman was wrong, Virgil would probably murder him with his bare hands. Worse, Patton would know what he’d done. He might never forgive Roman for it.

Janus took Roman’s silence as agreement. “Just a little longer. I’m the one who knows what he’s doing, remember.”

Roman shook his head. “But when is it enough? Tell me, at what point will it be safe to end things? And in the meantime, we just keep hurting Virgil.”

Janus stiffened. “He won’t get hurt,” he snapped.

Roman rolled his eyes. “Some people have feelings, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” Janus replied. “They’re wonderful to manipulate.”

“You’re terrible.”

“Perhaps. But you’re the one paying me.”

“Well, not anymore. I meant what I said. This is over.”

“And I meant what _I_ said. You want to take Patton to the dance, don’t you? Why not keep it going until that, at least.”

Roman shook his head. Something in Janus’ eyes, the way he held himself, the speed at which he answered, made him seem almost… desperate. But why would he be? Sure, Roman was paying him an extortionate amount, but it wasn’t like Janus needed the money.

And then there was the glimpses Roman had seen of him and Virgil together. How relaxed he seemed, the way he looked at Virgil as if Virgil had singlehandedly created every Disney film. Roman had admired Janus for his acting abilities, the way it looked so natural. So real.

“You don’t want this to end,” Roman realised.

Janus looked at him as if he were stupid. “Yes, I told you that.”

“No, you told me that it _shouldn’t_ end. But you’re not worried about Virgil finding out; you’re worried about not being able to date him.”

“Right,” Janus said. “If you’re done being ridiculous?”

“Deny it all you want, but you can’t change the truth. Not that you’d have much experience with that.”

“You’re right,” Janus deadpanned. “I was cursed as a baby so that I can only speak in lies. I am forced to always say the opposite of what I mean. It’s incredibly inconvenient.”

“Don’t try to change the subject!” Roman snapped. “The truth is, you’re in love with Virgil. Admit it.”

“I don’t have to admit to anything. Certainly not to your fanciful daydreams.”

“Would it really be so bad if you were?”

Janus said nothing.

“Look,” Roman said, softer, “It doesn’t have to be either or. If you want to keep dating Virgil without the money, what’s to stop you?”

For a moment, Janus seemed to consider it. He looked hopeful, but the kind of hope that was tinged with the fear of what you wanted being taken away. It was the most vulnerable Roman had ever seen him. Quite possibly the most vulnerable that anyone had ever seen him. Then head snapped up, his face smoothed into his usual blank mask.

“Very well,” he said. “If you truly think our arrangement should come to an end, I’ll respect that.”

Roman relaxed. Already, some of the guilt was ebbing out of him. “Okay, good.”

“And to show I mean it, I’ll end things with Virgil straight away. It’s only proper.”

“Wait, that’s not-”

But Janus was already walking away, not listening to Roman’s protests.

“That’s not what I meant, asshole,” Roman shouted, but Janus didn’t even break his stride.

Roman scowled. Well, he’d done the right thing at least, even if Janus had refused to listen to him.

Their staircase was empty. The cafeteria wasn’t empty, but it didn’t have Virgil in it. That wasn’t surprising; Janus had doubted Virgil would have braved it on his own. Virgil must have gotten out of class and not been able to find Janus, which meant he’d probably gone to his friends so he wouldn’t have to spend lunch alone.

Sure enough, when Janus reached the fire escape, he saw the familiar patchwork hoodie, slightly further away from the group than he had been last time. Virgil was staring at his phone, foot tapping on the floor. If Virgil looked up, he would probably smile when he saw Janus, would probably start frowning when Janus asked to talk to him somewhere private, would worry about what Janus wanted but wouldn’t say anything.

And then what would Janus say? The simplest option was to not offer any explanation, to just say it was over and then leave. Let Virgil come up with the reason, sometime around three am. The easiest option would be to make it complete, suggest he’d found someone else, or that he was never really interested. Destroy the bridge so completely that there wouldn’t even be ashes left to find.

“What are you doing here?”

Luc Edwards had stepped inside, his arms folded. Wonderful. Behind him, Virgil had twisted around to look, eyes wide.

It was Janus Virgil spoke to. “I need to talk to you.”

Virgil nodded and quickly stood up and stepped inside. Before he could get to them, Luc took another step closer. Janus tried not to flinch back. It was fine, Luc hadn’t tried anything physical for years, wouldn’t dare try anything now.

“What do you want to talk about?” Luc asked.

“Is that any of your business?”

Virgil tried to get around Luc, but Luc held out an arm, blocking his path. Virgil scowled.

“Get out of the way,” he said quietly.

Luc ignored him. “You’ve been talking to Virgil a lot. What do you see in him? Can’t be his personality.”

“Knock it off, Luc,” Virgil growled, shouldering past him. He grabbed Janus’ arm and muttered, “Let’s go.”

“You know what I think?” Luc asked. “I think you’re just using him.”

Janus’ blood turned to ice. He forced himself not to react, to keep his face blank. There was no way Luc could know the truth.

Luc must have sensed some of Janus’ fear because he grinned. “Are you really so obsessed with me you need to cosy up to my friends?”

The surprise and relief made Janus laugh. “Oh, honey, why would I possibly be interested in you? You’re a nobody.”

His words hit their mark. Luc took a step forward, so they were toe-to-toe. His hand was clenched into a fist, and maybe he shouldn’t have been so harsh, because this was going to _hurt_.

And then he was pulled back, and Virgil was pushing his way between them.

“Back off,” Virgil snarled.

For a moment, they both stood ready to fight, and Janus waited for Luc to hit Virgil. But then Luc just turned away.

“Whatever,” he muttered.

Outside, the rest of the group were watching them intently. One kid looked about to say something, but Virgil tugged Janus away before anything else could happen. Janus followed, letting Virgil drag him across school.

“Are you okay?” Janus asked when they had stopped.

Virgil looked at him incredulously. “You’re the one who almost got hit! Are you okay?”

Janus’ hands were shaking. He hadn’t realised that. He quickly stuffed them in his pockets so no one could see, and then sank to the ground. They were in their staircase. Virgil sat down next to him, eyes wide with worry.

“I’m fine,” Janus said. “Thanks for stopping him. His punches hurt.”

Virgil snorted. “Yeah, Luc’s an asshole. Wait” –his eyes narrowed- “how do you know what his punched are like?”

Oh. He hadn’t meant to say that. He should probably come up with a lie, say that he’s seen enough kids get hit by him to guess, but all that came out was, “How do you think?”

Virgil stood up quickly. “I’m going to kill him,” he snarled.

“Don’t bother,” Janus said. “My revenge was very thorough.”

“The cheating,” Virgil guessed. Janus nodded.

“But then why did he hit you?”

Janus shrugged. “I was there.”

Virgil sat back down. He didn’t say anything, though he looked confused, just rested one hand on Janus’ arm; an invitation. And, though Janus knew that he should keep quiet, keep his secrets hidden, the words began to tumble out of him.

“I’m sure you can imagine what middle school was like with my scar.”

“You were bullied,” Virgil said softly. It wasn’t a question, but still Janus nodded.

“Luc wasn’t the worst, but he was the leader. Believe it or not, he used to be popular. One day I overheard him telling his friends that he cheated on his tests. So I told him that if he didn’t leave me alone, I’d go to the school.”

“And it worked?”

“Luc and his friends stopped bothering me. And then the rest of the school followed their lead. And I knew how to get what I wanted.”

But it was about more than just that. Luc had been scared of him back then, and that had made him untouchable. It was a feeling he’d wanted to keep.

“That’s how you got started,” Virgil said. “But then what happened with Luc?”

“He fell back into old habits,” Janus explained. “Not with me, but with others. I confronted him about it; it didn’t go well.”

It made him sound so altruistic. In reality, he hadn’t been thinking about those other kids at all when he went to the principal. But Luc had threatened him, and that was something he couldn’t allow.

Virgil processed Janus’ story silently. Finally, he turned so his body was facing Janus, and held his arms open.

“Can I hug you?”

Janus nodded, and Virgil’s arms wrapped around him. Virgil’s body felt warm pressed against his.

“Thank you for telling me that,” he whispered into Janus’ ear.

“Go to the dance with me,” Janus said. Virgil pulled back to stare incredulously at him.

That was not what Janus had meant to say. And yet, he didn’t want to take it back.

“What?” Virgil asked.

“Go to the dance with me,” Janus repeated. “I know you want to go.”

“Why?”

“Does there need to be a reason?”

Virgil hesitated a moment longer before nodding. “Okay,” he said. “Take me to the dance.”

Perhaps Roman had a point after all. There was no reason for their relationship to seem anything less than real.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been awhile, I know! I had a lot of issues with writers block with this fic for the longest time, but after working on some other stuff, I'm back and ready to start updating again! Gonna try for fortnightly updates for now, I'm already partway through the next chapter (and I definitely don't want to leave you guys for long after this one)

“I’m doing your makeup,” Patton announced, when Virgil came out of his room.

He’d just finished getting ready for the dance – black suit pants, a purple shirt, and in theory a black suit jacket, though he was currently wearing his hoodie. It was still half an hour before Virgil had to leave to go to the dance – he and Janus had decided to meet at the school - but Virgil hadn’t wanted to end up late.

He didn’t want to end up _early_ either, because then he’d be stuck waiting around for Janus by himself.

“Who says I’m wearing makeup?” Virgil asked.

Patton just rolled his eyes, and walked past him into his room. Virgil sighed and sat down on his bed, while Patton starting browsing through Virgil’s eyeshadow supplies. It was… limited, to say the least. He only ever wore black eyeshadow, but he had another pallet that he’d brought once on a whim, but had never plucked up the courage to use.

So it wasn’t really much of a surprise that Patton turned around holding that pallet.

“Are you sure?” Virgil asked.

“It’ll look good, I promise,” Patton reassured him.

Virgil tilted his head so Patton could get a better look and closed his eyes. The brush – something his father had given him after being horrified to learn Virgil was using those disposable applicators – tickled against his skin.

“Nervous?” Patton asked.

“Who, me? Nervous about something? _Never_ ,” Virgil replied.

Patton hummed. “You shouldn’t be. This will be fun!”

“Sure,” Virgil said. He lasted about five seconds before adding, “Unless Janus sees me and regrets everything and decides to break up with me.”

“ _Virgil_.”

“It could happen,” Virgil protested.

“Then Janus is an idiot,” Patton said. “If he decided to take you to the dance, why would he back out now?”

“I know,” Virgil said. “I know that’s not going to happen. I just-” he trailed off, not sure what else to say.

“You really like him, don’t you?” Patton asked quietly.

Patton was done with the eyeshadow now, but Virgil still kept his eyes closed. “I like him so much it terrifies me,” Virgil admitted. “I think I might be in love with him.”

“That doesn’t sound very scary,” Patton said.

“It’s scary that I might lose him.”

“You might not,” Patton pointed out. “And even if you do, you’ll still have been happy now. Open your eyes.”

Virgil did so. Patton was holding a mirror up for Virgil to look in. Instead of the usual black smears under his eyes, Patton had used purple glittery eyeshadow.

“Do you like it?” Patton asked.

“I think so,” Virgil said. He tilted his head to get a better look. “What about you? What are you going to wear?”

Patton chewed the inside of his lip. “I, uh, I don’t know yet.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Pat, you’re leaving in like half an hour.”

“I know. I have something, but I’m not sure if I should wear it.”

“I mean, how bad could it be?” When Patton didn’t answer, Virgil added, “Okay, how about this: You go put whatever it is on, and I’ll tell you if wearing it will be social suicide.”

Patton managed a small smile, but he still didn’t look certain. “Right. Thanks, Virgil.”

Patton scurried out of his room, almost running into Remy, who was on his way in.

“So,” Remy said. “You’re going to the dance.”

“Yeah,” Virgil said.

“With Janus.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t like him.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Nobody likes him.”

“You do,” Remy pointed out, and Virgil didn’t say anything because yeah, he really fucking liked Janus.

“You did say I could date who I wanted,” Virgil said, slightly defensive.

“I did,” Remy admitted. “And you’re a smart kid. So long as he’s not a dick to you, I guess I’ll just have to live with it.”

“Right,” Virgil said, and then, because he had no idea what else he was supposed to say in a situation like this, “Thanks.”

Remy looked like he was about to say something else, when Patton appeared in the doorway.

Virgil hadn’t known what to expect from Patton’s outfit – he was fairly certain most guys would be just wearing suits. He figured Patton was probably just feeling self-conscious – even if that was usually Virgil’s thing.

Instead, Patton was wearing a blue, floor-length dress, with a blue pashmina wrap around his arms.

“Wow,” Remy said. “Patton, you look amazing.”

Patton ducked his head. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. You- fuck, you’re all grown up.”

Patton grinned, and then turned to Virgil. “Virgil? What do you think?”

And Virgil – Virgil wasn’t sure. The dress looked good on Patton, there was no denying that, but, well, it was still a dress. And while their school was fairly progressive, Virgil knew first hand that it had its fair share of assholes. It was a risk, and every part of Virgil was hardwired for avoiding risks.

Patton noticed Virgil’s hesitation, and the smile slipped off his face. Crap, now Virgil knew he’d messed up.

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” Virgil hurried to explain. “It’s just – it makes you stand out. And that can get you hurt.”

“It can,” Patton said. “But maybe some risks are worth taking.”

“And some risks aren’t. Sometimes the best thing to do is to play it safe.”

“But not always,” Patton countered. “And I trust the dress.”

“But does the dress deserve that trust, if it’s already hurt you before?”

“That wasn’t the dress’s fault. The dress was just trying to help.”

“Okay,” Remy interrupted. “Virgil, Patton, my sons, the lights of my life, the only things in this world I love more than coffee, I am begging you, _please_ stop pretending you’re talking about formalwear here.”

Virgil grimaced, and looked at Patton.

“ _Janus_ could hurt you,” Patton pointed out.

“That’s different.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not _you_ ,” Virgil said. “It’s- I’m supposed to keep you safe.”

“But you can’t, not completely. The world doesn’t work like that. There’s always a risk of being hurt, so why shouldn’t I take a risk of being happy first?”

Virgil sighed, and slumped his shoulders. “I still don’t like him. Or trust him. But I guess I can learn to… tolerate him. And I am happy for you.”

Patton smiled. “I’m happy for you, too. Really, I am.”

“Great, glad that’s cleared up,” Remy said. “Now, speaking of staying safe, I know you’re young and have all sorts of feelings, so: whatever you do, make sure you use protection.”

“Oh, God,” Virgil muttered. “I can’t deal with this.”

“Dad!” Patton squeaked. “I’m not planning on doing anything like _that_.”

Before Remy could answer, there was a knock at the door, saving all three of them.

“That’s Roman!” Patton cried. He ran his hands over his skirt. “Do you think he’ll like it?”

“He’ll love it, Pat,” Virgil said.

Patton grinned, and hurried to the door. He hesitated a moment, and straightened out his dress. It was fine, Virgil had said it would be fine, and Roman was the only one who’s opinion he cared about, anyway. He took a deep breath, and flung open the door.

Roman’s eyes widened as soon as he saw Patton. He himself was – well, he was wearing a red ball gown, with a white jacket over it.

“Hi,” Patton said, feeling better about his own dress.

But Roman didn’t answer, instead, he just kept staring at Patton.

Patton fidgeted at his skirt nervously. “Is something wrong? If you don’t like it, I can go change-”

“No,” Roman cried, a little too loud. “No, I mean, it’s- wow.” Roman grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. You look amazing, Patton.”

Patton felt his cheeks heat up. “Oh, it’s nothing, I just saw it in the shop and thought ‘hey, that looks really cool’, you know? You look really good too. I mean, you probably look any better than me. Not that’s it a competition or anything, but- I’m going to stop talking now.”

Roman laughed, but it was the fond kind of laugh, like they were both in on the joke. He held out one arm. “Well, Mr Foster, will you accompany me to the dance?”

Patton giggled and took the arm. “Why yes, Mr Prince, I think I will.”

Janus was about half a second away from snapping and leaving.

Students and their dates filtered in around him, crossing the parking lot where he was waiting on their way to the school gym. He saw Roman and Patton go by, both wearing dresses, and Roman shot Janus a smug look that Janus refused to think about.

And here Janus was, waiting for his date to arrive for a dance. At _school_.

Janus was rather certain that this would end up being a disaster, somehow.

A familiar car pulled up and Janus straightened. Virgil looked uncomfortable as he got out, though as soon as he saw Janus, he froze and stared. Janus went still, wondering what it was Virgil was staring at, if he really looked that terrible. He forced himself to not let it show on his face, to stroll over as if he had no concern in the world.

“Something wrong?” Janus asked, trying to keep his voice light.

Virgil blinked, and seemed to come back into himself. “You, uh, you look really good,” he admitted, and Janus was certain Virgil was blushing under his foundation.

Oh. Janus hadn’t expected that. He’d been told he looked handsome, of course, but not since the accident. He’d considered wearing makeup to cover it up and eventually decided against it. What would the point be, when everyone already knew what he looked like?

“Oh,” Janus said. “Thank you.” Virgil’s eyeshadow was different today, purple instead of the usual black. “You look good, too.”

They’d ended up coordinating by accident, as Virgil’s suit had a purple shirt, while Janus’ had a yellow one. Though while Virgil had left it at that, Janus had gone further, adding a bow tie, a bowler hat and a pair of yellow gloves to the outfit, because if Janus was here, he was going to make sure everyone knew about it.

“Right,” Virgil said, not sounding convinced, though he still smiled at the complement. Janus chalked that up as a win.

“Shall we?” Janus asked, gesturing to the school. Virgil nodded and they both walked inside together.

Inside, the gym was packed with people. Most were dancing, though there were some sat in the chairs dotted around the edge of the room and talking. How they were able to hear themselves over the blaring of the music – some pop song that Janus didn’t care to identify – was a mystery. On the opposite side of the hall to the entrance was a make-shift bar serving mocktails, which already had a cluster of people surrounding it.

Virgil stopped in the entrance, and Janus stopped next to him. He reached out and grabbed Janus’ hand, tight. Janus watched his face, so he’d be able to tell if he needed to drag Virgil somewhere quieter, but after a moment, Virgil nodded and said, “Okay, let’s go.”

They moved further into the gym, so they were out of the way of the entrance.

“Shall we dance?” Janus suggested.

He wasn’t expecting Virgil to agree, not yet. He imagined Virgil would need a while to acclimatise first, like a swimmer getting into a cold pool. But Virgil surprised him by straightening his shoulders and nodding.

It was Virgil that led the way onto the dance floor. And Janus was struck by the horrifying realisation that he didn’t know how to dance.

He’d _learned_ to dance as a kid, back when his parents still liked to trot him out at parties, but that had been formal dances. He barely ever went to house parties, and when he did, he’d never _danced_ at them. So far, he’d managed to avoid the issue with Virgil.

“You okay?” Virgil asked – or rather, Janus _guessed_ that Virgil was asking that by his lips, he couldn’t actually hear him over the music.

“I can’t dance,” Janus admitted, having to shout embarrassingly loud to be heard.

Virgil’s eyes widened and he smiled, though it wasn’t mocking. He took Janus’ hands and began to move.

“Just- do what feels right,” Virgil said.

That didn’t sound right, compared to all the rules from childhood, but he followed Virgil’s lead. It felt awkward at first, but as the songs changed, he began to get into it. As it turned out, his parent’s lessons had actually left him with a good sense of rhythm.

Virgil laughed as Janus spun him, and then the music changed, from the poppy nonsense to a slower song. This was closer to what Janus was used to, and he took advantage of that whole-heartedly, pulling Virgil closer to him and beginning to slow dance.

That close to each other, and with Virgil staring into his eyes, Janus couldn’t stop himself from leaning forwards and kissing him. Virgil returned the kiss, but as soon as they were done, he pulled away, and led Janus to the side of the room.

“Are you okay?” Janus asked.

“Fine,” Virgil said. “I just need a minute.”

Janus nodded, and scanned the room for a quite spot. He found one, and led Virgil over to it.

“Do you need anything?” Janus asked.

Virgil shrugged, and then said, “Maybe a drink?”

Janus nodded. “Wait here,” he said, and crossed the room to the bar, which was currently crowded. A well timed glare was enough to drive a few people away, but still more didn’t seem to notice him.

Back by the wall, Virgil watched Janus, then looked around the room. He spotted Patton, dancing with Roman. They looked lost in each other, but somehow, Patton noticed him and waved. Virgil smiled and gave a two fingered salute back. Roman followed Patton’s gaze and looked over. His face seemed to freeze when he saw Virgil, and Virgil had to fight not to laugh at it.

Roman did manage an awkward nod, though, and Virgil returned it, and then Patton pulled Roman’s attention away and said something to him, and they were lost in the crowd of dancers again.

He didn’t notice Luc until Luc was right beside him. Virgil scowled.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I need to talk to you,” Luc said.

“Cool,” Virgil said flatly, and he started walking away. Luc grabbed Virgil’s arm. Virgil glared at him. “Let go of me.”

Luc sneered. “You think you’re such hot shit with your boyfriend, don’t you?”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “I’m not the one who spends all my time mad about something that happened years ago.”

Luc’s face darkened. “You really think you’re better than me,” he said. “You don’t even know how pathetic you are. It really was only _Janus Verona_ who was willing to date you.”

Virgil tensed. “Whatever you’re talking about, I don’t care,” he said.

“What do you think Roman did to convince him?” Luc asked. “I’d guess money, but Roman didn’t even seem to think you were worth that.”

“What are you talking about?” Virgil asked.

Luc laughed. “You think Janus just happened to fall head over heels with you? Roman was running around the whole school looking for someone he could convince to date you. Something about wanting to date your brother.”

Virgil went cold. _New rule,_ his father had said, weeks ago. _Patton can date when Virgil does._

Luc was full of shit, but there were only a handful of people who knew about that rule. Virgil and Patton, of course, and Logan was also a given, but he wouldn’t have said anything to Luc. Roman would probably know, too. And it was the Monday after that Janus had first spoken to him, had first taken an interest.

He’d later said he’d been impressed by what Virgil had said in English, but the first time they’d spoken had been _before_ that English class. And now that he thought about it, Virgil realised that Janus had never explained it. He hadn’t explained a lot of things, for that matter.

“Is there a problem?” Janus’ smooth voice cut in, and Virgil flinched. Janus had returned, carrying two cups, and he was glaring at Luc.

“Probably,” Luc said, before turning and disappearing. Virgil barely noticed him go. Something very loud was thundering in his ears.

“Hey,” Janus said. “What’s wrong? What did he say?”

“Why did you ask me out?” Virgil asked.

“What?”

“You never spoke to me. I don’t think you even _noticed_ me, and then suddenly you asked me out. Why?”

Janus’ face shuttered. “What did Luc say?” he asked, and well, that just about proved everything, didn’t it?

“No ulterior motive, huh?” Virgil said flatly, and he started walking away.

He couldn’t be here, couldn’t be with Janus, couldn’t be in this hall. He needed to get out, get away, to somewhere this all made sense.

“Virgil, wait,” Janus said, following. Virgil pushed his way out of the doors of the gym, into the now empty corridor outside. A few seconds later, Janus followed.

“Tell me he was wrong about the money,” Virgil said, because if so then maybe-

But Janus froze, and for a liar he was very bad at hiding his facial expressions.

“Oh,” Virgil said.

“Virgil-” Janus tried.

Virgil laughed shakily. “I _knew_ something was up. What was it, half up front, and half when I slept with you?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Janus said. “I didn’t care about the money, I only cared about you.”

And Virgil really, really wanted to believe that, to believe that everything could be okay. But Virgil couldn’t trust Janus, not now. He shook his head and stepped away from him.

“Virgil, _please_.”

“ _Don’t_ ,” Virgil snarled. “Just- get the fuck out of my life, okay?”

He turned and stormed away before Janus could say anything else, before Janus could keep _lying_ , the way he had been lying the whole time they’d known each other.

Virgil should have known.

Should have known better than to trust someone like Janus. Should have known better than to think anyone would be interested in him.

This time, he managed to make it all the way out of the school before someone else called his name.

“Virgil!” Patton.

Virgil kept walking, not in the mood to see anyone, but apparently that wasn’t enough to stop Patton. He caught up to Virgil and grabbed his arm. Virgil pulled his arm away, but stopped walking.

“What happened?” Patton asked, concern etched onto his face. “You seemed so happy, and then you were storming away.” Virgil didn’t respond, so Patton kept trying. “I saw Janus. He seemed upset. Did- did you get into a fight?”

A fight was one way to put it. God, he’d been so stupid.

And if Janus and Roman had been conspiring together, who else had?

Luc had said that Roman was the one responsible, but the whole thing had helped Patton, too. And Patton had seemed so upset when Remy had told them they weren’t able to date.

Patton had been the one to ask Virgil to go to the party, because he’d been able to see Roman there. And then Virgil and Janus had spent the whole time together.

“Did you know?” Virgil asked, horror growing within him.

“Know what?”

“About Janus. About Roman, and what they-“ Virgil shook his head. “Were you- were you laughing behind my back this whole time?”

“Virgil, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Look, why don’t you come inside, okay? You can tell me what happened.”

Virgil shook his head. “Stop,” he snapped. “Just- leave me alone, okay? This is all your fault.”

He turned and walked away, leaving Patton alone. Tears were pricking at his eyes, but he couldn’t let himself cry, not yet. He made it to his car, and it was as if something else was controlling him as he got in, started the car, and began to drive home.

He glanced back in the rear-view mirror before leaving the parking lot, just in case someone was still out there, trying to talk to him.

But no one was, and so Virgil drove into the night alone.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meant to get this up yesterday but got distracted by the incorrect quotes video! Enjoy!

Patton didn’t know what was happening, didn’t know why Virgil was so upset with him, but he _did_ know that someone had hurt his brother.

He’d seen Virgil on the side of the room while he had been dancing with Roman. Then he’d seen Luc Edwards talking to him – he knew that Virgil and Luc had been friends, but he also knew that Virgil didn’t seem to trust Luc much. And then Roman had drawn his attention away, and the next time he’d looked up, Virgil was on his way out of the gym.

Janus had slunk back inside not long after, and it was clear _something_ was wrong, so he’d gone to find Virgil.

Patton turned and marched back into the gym, because Virgil had made it very clear that he didn’t want Patton around. He couldn’t see Janus inside, but he _did_ see Luc, looking rather smug standing with his friends - _Virgil’s friends_.

Before Patton realised what he was doing, he was already halfway across the hall. When he did figure it out, he didn’t try and stop himself. Luc sneered when he spotted Patton, and opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was, he never got a chance to speak before Patton’s fist collided with his nose.

It must have been a good punch, because it sent Luc sprawling to the ground. Patton’s hand throbbed, because it turned out punching people _hurt_ , but the adrenaline rushing through him made him feel _good_. This was the asshole that had hurt Virgil.

“What the _fuck_ did you say to my brother?” Patton spat as Luc pushed himself to his feet.

Luc lunged at Patton, and Patton braced himself for it to _hurt_ , but Luc’s friends were grabbing him and holding him back, and then someone was pulling _Patton_ back, and standing between him and Luc.

“I’d advise you to move on,” Roman said.

Luc looked between Roman and Patton and back again, and for one heart stopping moment, Patton thought Luc was going to go after _Roman_. But Luc just shook his head, muttered “ _Whatever_ ,” and walked away, his gaggle of friends following him.

Roman watched until he’d apparently decided Luc was far enough away, and then he turned to Patton. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Patton shook his head, feeling strangely numb now that the adrenaline was ebbing away. He’d never hit anyone before.

“What happened?” Roman asked.

 _Did you know? About Janus? About Roman?_ Virgil had asked, and he’d sounded scared and upset and _hurt_. Someone had hurt him.

“Roman,” Patton said, “What did you _do_?”

Roman frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“With Virgil. He said- he said you and Janus _did_ something.”

Roman’s face paled. “Oh,” he said. “He- he found out?”

Patton shrugged, not sure what to say.

Roman sagged. “I didn’t- it wasn’t meant to be a big _thing_ , okay? It was just meant to be a couple of times so your dad would be happy.”

“What was meant to be a couple of times?” Patton asked, though he had a sinking feeling he already knew the answer.

Roman didn’t answer for a moment, then he straightened his shoulders and said, “I paid Janus to date Virgil.”

A hundred small things slowly clicked into place; how Janus had suddenly seemed interested in Virgil; how Roman had brushed off Patton’s concerns about it.

“I swear,” Roman continued. “It was just meant to be a couple of dates. It wasn’t- no one was meant to get _hurt_.”

Patton took a step back. Roman still looked the same as he had earlier that night, like something from a fairytale, which didn’t make any _sense_ because somehow, this Roman had done a horrible thing.

“You made my brother _cry_ ,” Patton said, and Roman’s face fell.

There was nothing else for Patton to say after that – if Roman didn’t know how much that meant, then, well, Roman had never really known him at all. Patton fled from the gym, and the cold winter’s air prickled at his skin as he stepped outside. A dress had seemed a lot smarter when he’d thought he’d only have to walk between the car and the gym.

But now he found himself unsure where to go. Roman was the one who had driven him there, but Patton didn’t want to go back and ask him for a lift. And he didn’t want to go home, either, not when Virgil was still so mad at him.

So he started walking, and went to the only other place that felt like home.

It only took a few knocks before Logan opened the door, and when he did, he looked surprised to see him.

“Patton,” he said, stepping aside quickly so Patton could get inside. “What happened?”

Patton shrugged, hovering in the hallway. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to warm up.

“Um,” he said, voice wobbling. “I- I think Roman and I just broke up.”

“Oh,” Logan said softly, and then there were arms wrapped around him, and Patton buried his head in Logan’s shoulder.

“That’s- I’m sorry,” Logan said hesitantly.

“Who is- oh,” a voice said.

Patton looked up, and for a moment he thought Roman was standing at the top of the stairs, until his brain was able to catch up with what he was seeing – the moustache, the kind of clothes Roman would never be seen dead in, the white streak in the hair.

“What’s going on?” Remus asked, climbing down the stairs.

Logan glanced at Patton, a question on his face, and Patton nodded.

“Patton and Roman broke up,” Logan explained.

“Wait, what?” Remus asked. “What happened?”

Patton shrugged, not wanting to have to think about what had happened.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Logan said sharply.

“Like hell he doesn’t! He just broke up with my brother!”

“ _Remus_ ,” Logan snapped, and Remus threw his hands up.

“ _Fine_ ,” Remus said. “Is Roman okay?”

“I think so?” Patton tried. “He, um, he was at the school. When I left, at least.”

Remus nodded, already moving out the door. Logan sighed.

“Stay here a moment,” Logan said, and then he hurried out of the door after Remus.

There didn’t seem to be much point in Patton just waiting in the hallway, so he went to Logan’s room. The office door was open when Patton passed it, and Logan’s mother Amy waved at Patton. Patton managed to smile and wave back.

He sat down on Logan’s bed, and fiddled with his pashmina. It was warm in here, at least.

It was only a few minutes later when he heard Logan come back. Logan said something to Amy in the hallway, the sound was too muffled for Patton to make out what it was, and then Logan stepped into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

“Is Remus okay?” Patton asked.

Logan sighed. “He’s fine. He insisted on going to the school himself to meet Roman.”

Patton frowned. “But it’s dark. It might not be safe.”

“I imagine Remus is likely the scariest thing around,” Logan said, an amused smile on his face. He looked fond of Remus – Patton had noticed they’d spent time together, but he hadn’t realised that they were _friends_. With everything that was going on with Roman, he hadn’t thought about it.

Well, they must be close if Remus was at Logan’s house, and on the night of a dance-

Oh. _Oh_. Remus and Logan must be even closer than Patton had thought.

Logan was rummaging through his closet. He pulled something out and handed it to Patton. It was the sweater that Logan had gotten that summer, when he’d gone to a summer school at the nearby university.

Patton shook his head. “I’m fine. I should probably go-”

“Nonsense,” Logan said. “You just walked across town in a dress in the middle of _winter_. Clearly, you are upset. At the very least, you should get warm.”

Patton did as he was told. He fidgeted with the sleeves. “I ruined your night with Remus.”

“Hardly,” Logan muttered. “I will see Remus on Monday.” He hesitated, and then asked, “Virgil was at the dance too, correct?”

Patton nodded.

“Then why did you not talk to him? Surely he could have given you a lift home.”

Patton fiddled harder with the sleeve. “Oh,” he said trying to keep his voice light. “Well, I think Virgil hates me right now.”

His voice broke at the end, and Patton tried to wipe away the tears spilling down his face. They seemed to be coming to fast for him to control.

“I fail to see how that could be possible,” Logan said. “Nor why Virgil would be upset about you choosing to break up with your boyfriend

Patton just shrugged.

“Will you tell me what happened?” Logan prompted.

Slowly, and having to stop every so often because he started crying again, Patton explained what happened, how he’d chased after Virgil, and what Roman had told him. When he finished, Logan’s face was guarded.

“Did he say if-” Logan cut himself off and shook his head. “Never mind. Virgil doesn’t hate you.”

“But-”

“Virgil was upset and he lashed out. But, Patton, you haven’t done what he thinks you did.”

“But what if he doesn’t believe me?” Patton asked.

“Virgil knows you. He knows that this kind of thing is not something you are capable of.”

“I didn’t think it was something _anyone_ was capable of,” Patton sighed. He reconsidered. “Well, Janus, maybe, but not Roman.”

Logan didn’t seem to know what to say to that, and Patton sighed. “Can I stay here tonight?” he asked, voice small.

Logan’s face softened. “Of course,” he said.

Patton crept into his house as quietly as he could. He felt like he was trying to sneak in after sneaking out, except he _wasn’t_ – he’d told Remy where he was the last night, so he hadn’t done anything wrong. But he didn’t want Virgil to know he was back, not when Virgil was probably still angry at him.

He had every right to be. Even if Patton hadn’t done anything on purpose, it was still all his _fault_. And Virgil had known what Roman was like, hadn’t he? And Patton had just ignored him.

He only got halfway to the stairs before Remy appeared. He looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept all night.

“Virgil came home early,” he said. “And he hasn’t come out of his room since. And _you_ were either being sneaky or you spent the night with someone who isn’t your boyfriend.”

Patton felt his cheeks turn red at Remy’s implication. “It was just Logan.”

“Yeah, that’s my _point_ ,” Remy said. “What happened? And don’t even _try_ to tell me that this is just a coincidence.”

“Your dumb _rule_ happened,” Patton snapped. “If you had just let me make my own decisions, everything would be fine!”

“Hey,” Remy said, but Patton wasn’t done.

“Janus was just pretending to date Virgil,” Patton said. “Because _Roman_ wanted to date me. But he couldn’t, because you’d already decided I’m too _stupid_ to decide things for myself! Well, you were right! Thanks for proving it!”

Remy opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by a door slamming upstairs. Remy looked guiltily at the ceiling, and Patton took that as an opportunity to push past him and go upstairs himself.

Virgil’s door was shut – he must have come out when Patton and Remy were arguing and then gone back in again. Patton hesitated, because Virgil was probably mad, but Patton needed to know that Virgil was okay.

“Virgil?” Patton called softly, knocking on the door.

For a while, there was silence, and Patton was about to give up and go to his room, when Virgil said, “Come in, Pat.”

Virgil was hunched over his desk, wearing his usual hoodie. The clothes he’d been wearing last night were scattered around the floor. Patton walked into the room, and perched on the edge of Virgil’s bed.

“I broke up with Roman,” Patton tried. “He told me everything.”

Technically, Patton had never actually _said_ those words to Roman, but seeing as Roman hadn’t tried to contact him since last night, it seemed like he’d gotten the message.

“I broke up with Janus,” Virgil said. “Obviously.”

“Virgil, I promise, I had no idea-“

“I know,” Virgil said. “Sorry. For, uh, last night.”

“It’s fine,” Patton said.

“Nothings fine,” Virgil said. “I-fuck.”

Virgil was wiping at his eyes. Patton crossed the room quickly, and pulled Virgil into a hug. It was kind of awkward, since Virgil was sitting and Patton was standing.

“ _Stupid_ ,” Virgil hissed, and Patton held him tighter.

“You’re not stupid,” Patton said, and when Virgil didn’t look convinced he added, “You’re _not_.”

“ _Janus Verona_ took an interest in me and I honestly thought he meant it.” Virgil laughed bitterly. “Yeah, I’d say that was pretty stupid of me.”

“I think tricking people is what Janus does,” Patton pointed out.

Virgil looked away. “I don’t want to talk about him. I know I brought him up, but-“

“We don’t have to,” Patton said. He glanced down at Virgil’s desk. “What are you writing?”

“A sonnet,” Virgil said. “It’s for English class.”

“Oh,” Patton said. “How’s it going?”

Virgil pulled a face. “It’s not anything I can show my teacher.”

Patton didn’t know what to say. It was like the world had ended last night, and now Patton was expected to keep on going as if it hadn’t. And Virgil had every right to say _I told you so_ , had every right to gloat about it, or be mad at Patton.

Part of Patton preferred the snarling, vicious Virgil of last night than the defeated one of today.

“Hey,” Patton tried. “Do you want to… watch sad movies and eat ice cream and mope around?”

Virgil offered a small half-smile, the first Patton had seen since they’d been at the dance. “It’s like you read my mind, Pat.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also on tumblr! sparrow-flies-south.tumblr.com


End file.
